Yarns that sing

We are a group of artisans from Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca. In 2004, we legally constituted ourselves to work together under the name “Bii Daüü”, a Zapotec term that means “Sacred Wind”. Since then, we undertook various tasks related to the rescue of natural dyes, which we use to dye the woolen yarn that we weave with, and searching for a way to live in harmony with nature. This is what our ancestors did; they lived in harmony with Mother Earth by dyeing the colors of cochineal, indigo, and “marush” [a native plant that yields a yellow color], among many other sources of color. So we continue to experiment with dyes, fabrics, and our family life all while trying to take care of our environment and our health.

We follow the tradition of our ancestors, capturing in our weavings what we see, what we feel, what we dream, as well as the Zapotec iconography that we inherited: water, fire, air, earth, and the stars.

In our journeys, we met Lynne Hocking, a weaver from Scotland. She employs different techniques on the loom and had a proposal in mind: to weave sounds. The idea seemed interesting to us and we decided to undertake the challenge.

For the weavings that we present in this exhibition, the members of Bii Daüü agreed to weave the sounds of birds native to our community. We selected these birds for their warbles that brighten our daily lives. We did not want to settle for just listening to their songs, the challenge was how to capture the beauty of those sounds by combining the patterns with colors of the rainbow. Every weaving incorporates the colors found in each bird’s plumage and we worked with Hector Meneses and Eva Brunner to carefully select each one.

It is a pleasure for us to have worked and shared this project with Lynne. This experience has shown us that distance is not an obstacle for living art and achieving dreams. We wish to thank the Textile Museum of Oaxaca for opening its doors in order to exhibit the results of this magnificent work done in collaboration.

Centro de Arte Textil Zapoteco Bii Daüü

My work explores identity and connection to place, primarily through my family's connection to the weaving trade in north-east Scotland stretching over at least seven generations. I create work that is inspired by genetics and ancestry as well as by the environments that myself and my ancestors occupy/ied (including the sounds of that environment).

In February 2019, I was fortunate to visit Oaxaca as part of a month-long British Council “Crafting Futures Mexico” project, where I was introduced to and worked with the weavers of Bii Daüü. We exchanged information – how to create patterns from sounds, what sounds were important and why, and our different ways of weaving. We paused to notice the sounds around us in our daily life and the emotions they elicit. We gave life to beautiful rugs inspired by these emotional connections to invisible, untouchable and transient sounds.

Since I returned to Scotland, we have continued to work together at distance to develop this new collection of work that records the local environment of Teotitlán del Valle through birdsong. Birds were recorded singing in Oaxaca, patterns were begun in Scotland then completed in Oaxaca: time, distance and a global pandemic were no obstacle to our collaboration.

In giving physical form to the songs of birds from Teotitlán del Valle, we make a record of the environment today, for ourselves and for future generations.

Lynne Hocking

Weaver and scientist who lives and works in Aberdeen, Scotland, UK, creating handwoven objects that give physical form to data.