Wild silk, hidden treasure
THE PROJECT
Between 2016 and 2018, I led and worked on the project called "Wild Silk, Hidden Treasure," a proposal for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage. This project was awarded competitive funding from CRESPIAL-UNESCO and supervised by Dr. Ruth Corcuera. The project took place in Ancasti, in the eastern part of Catamarca province, working alongside a group of six local women artisans dedicated to reactivating and revitalizing the traditional knowledge involved in obtaining and producing wild silk yarns and textiles.
The work combined ancestral techniques, such as the use of the telar criollo (creole loom) and knot weaving, with contemporary creative processes, resulting in original textile patterns that were later adopted by the artisans themselves as a distinctive hallmark. The incorporation of natural dyes such as cochineal further reinforced this intersection between tradition and innovation.
ACADEMIC PRESENTATIONS AND PROJECT DISSEMINATION
In March 2024, I participated in a virtual lecture hosted by London Metropolitan University, where I presented insights from the project in a session titled “Vital Weaves: Between Crafts and Design.” I emphasized the use of local raw materials and the relationship between artisans and the nurturing of their own material sources.
In April 2023, I screened the documentary during Fashion Revolution Argentina at the Faculty of Architecture, Design, and Urbanism of the University of Buenos Aires, opening a discussion about the importance of the designer’s role in addressing locally relevant challenges.
In October 2021, I participated in person in the 5th International Congress on Experiences in the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, held in Tlaxcala, Mexico. There, I shared the results of the project, highlighting the local significance of this traditional technique, the challenges I faced as a designer, and the relevance of implementing a project aimed at revitalizing local knowledge.
In 2020, the national Chamber of Deputies passed a resolution declaring the photographic exhibitions, audiovisual records, and the documentary that are part of the intangible cultural heritage safeguarding project “Silk of the Forest, a Hidden Treasure” to be of parliamentary interest.
In 2019, the project was officially declared of interest by the Chamber of Deputies of Catamarca.
In 2018, at the symposium “Crafting Worlds” (organized by the Ministry of Culture of Argentina and UNESCO), I gave a lecture and presented the documentary “Wild Silk, a Hidden Treasure.” My presentation was titled “Collaborative Culture, Practices with Artisans, Reflections on Diversity.”
That same year, I presented the project together with two of the artisans as part of the program “Getting to Know Our Heritage” at the Casa de la Cultura in the province of Catamarca, where the photographic exhibition “Wild Silk, a Hidden Treasure” was also held.
Additionally, I presented the project during a “Textile Design Masterclass Series” organized by the Schobert Chair, which included a lecture and documentary screening.
In 2017, I participated in the International Congress on Intangible Heritage, organized by CICOP (International Center for the Conservation of Heritage, Argentina), where I presented the progress of the project “Wild Silk, a Hidden Treasure.”
ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS
Finally, in 2020, I published an article in the Portuguese journal MEMORIAMEDIA titled “Wild silk, a hidden treasure. Thoughts on a safeguarding experience of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Ancasti, Catamarca, Argentina.” (https://review.memoriamedia.net/index.php/5-article5-6)
The work was recognized in the thesis “The Metaphor of the Skin” from the Higher Center of Fashion Design in Madrid, belonging to the Polytechnic University of Madrid, by Dr. Andrea Saltzman (see page 124 of the publication: https://oa.upm.es/62891/1/ANDREA_LAURA_SALTZMAN_ARDISSONE.pdf).
AUDIOVISUAL RECORD. DOCUMENTARY “WILD SILK, HIDDEN TREASURE”
Furthermore, as an outcome of this project, a short documentary and a photographic exhibition were produced with the purpose of highlighting the work accomplished and raising awareness about this technique, which had been significantly endangered.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To the artisans Pabla Romero, Elena Bulacios, Encarnación Rodríguez, Elvira Isolina Bulacios, and Angélica Moreira; to Dr. Ruth Corcuera and her family; the Luna family; Professor Marian Moya; Dr. Cecil Hidalgo; Dr. Marcos Quesada; Gabriela Granizo; the Bomczuk family; Cristian Zárate (photography); Fabricio Diaco (video and editing); Carolina Grinspan (music advisor); Juliana Horowitz (video advisor); the Municipality of Ancasti; the Government of Catamarca; the Subsecretariat of Human Rights of the City of Buenos Aires; the National Secretariat for Human Rights; and CRESPIAL-UNESCO.