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‘In any creative work, be it the artist or the artisan, the creatve person unites with the material they are working with, which symbolises the world outside him/herself. The worker and the artefact become one. The human being becomes one with his creation. ‘ Erich Fromm
The word Poiein in Ancient Greek (ποιεá¿–ν) means making. It is where the word Poetry comes from. Plato had pointed at the connection between craft-making and poetry, calling us to gaze at the rich worlds of form and meaning that come to life when we take raw material from our landscape and create with it. It is possible, when we look at a handcrafted object, to appreciate the emotion and soul life that the maker had infused in it.
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Sefrou is located in the heart of the middle Atlas. Traditionally, a market town located amidst fertile farming lands, it is known for its fruit orchards, cherry festival and the large Jewish community that lived there up until the last century. Sefrou is still home to a large community of local artisans, metal smiths, woodworkers, weavers and button makers. Though the community is still thriving, few are the ones of the young generation who wish to learn these skills.
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Visiting local crafts people in their workshops, we will learn about their work and daily lives as a way to get a sense of the place through the people and their working spaces. An orientation of the city from the inside out hosted by Culture Vultures, will lead us into a deeper relationship with Amazigh women who spin and weave and we will participate in a hands own textile workshop.
We will be introduced to ‘The Loom in Local Rituals’ and how women used the loom as a sacred medium for protection. On Sunday we will make a day trip to a mountain market town in the Middle Atlas where the wool comes from, to meet women who practice unbroken textile traditions in the region.
Alongside these visits our work will consist of listening to the stories that emerge from our activities, as well as engage with traditional stories from around the world to bring into clearer focus the role of craft-making in the life of the Soul. On our last day we will share these stories in a storytelling evening (no previous experience necessary). Daily shamanic practices will help us access ancestral knowledge and seek healing for modern day’s rupture between skill and community, craft and Time.
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KARMIT EVEN-ZUR
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Tierra Virgen was performed at Festival Natura in October 2022, during which many artists from all over Spain came together to launch and celebrate the 'rebirthing' of Laguna de la Janda; a large scale rehabilitation project of a part of the desiccated laguna.
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Tierra Virgen invited participants to dream with the vital forces of our watershed.
Invoking the three rivers that once fed the water basin before it was dried up, we conjured a psychomagic act, a collective improvisation, sensingthinking together to generate a tangible sacred presence of the laguna.
The mist extended over us as we named and braided into song the multiplural polyphony of the landscape, connecting with the surface expression of water and with the underground magnetic serpentine energy of this landscape temple.
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The mist thickened around us as we inCORPorated the laguna, witnessing her unadulterated, pure state; her effervescent virginity.
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Ritual performance, Festival Natura, Barbate 2022
Ritual performance, Festival Natura, Barbate 2022
Ritual performance, Festival Natura, Barbate 2022
Ritual performance, Festival Natura, Barbate 2022
Drainage channel of the Barbate river in what used to be the laguna de la Janda
Marta Cruz and Africa FerrÃn Martinez tapping into the narrative at the site of the laguna
Dreaming out loud
Drainage channel of the Barbate river in what used to be the laguna de la Janda
Tierra Virgen
Handmade felt / Ritual performance
Karmit Even Zur, Marta Cruz, Africa Martinez Ferrin
Festival Natura, Barbate 2022​
