The online BBC News recently (29 March) published a short, but fascinating article by Kan Zhang about the so-called ‘Dream Weavers’ of the island of Mindanao of the Philippine archipelago (to be downloaded here). They are women of the indigenous T’boli people, who live around Lake Sebu in the southern part of the island.
T'nalak cloth of the T'boli people, southern Mindanao, Philippines (TRC 2022.2909).
They weave cloths, called T’nalak, with a backstrap loom using fibres that are obtained from the Abacá plant (Musa Textilis), which is related to the banana tree.
Detail of a t'nalak cloth of the T'boli people in southern Mindanao (TRC 2022.2912).The patterns woven into the cloth are inspired by women’s dreams in which the goddess Fu Dalu makes an appearance as an animal or a human person. The woven cloths are regarded as a tribute to the goddess. The fibres are either left in their natural, dried white colour, or dyed red or black with locally occurring natural products.
The red and black dyes are applied to the fibres in an ikat (a resist technique that is often associated with Indonesia), which creates characteristic wavy colour lines.
T'nalak cloth of the T'boli people, southern Mindanao, Philippines (TRC 2022.2915).
It so happens that the TRC Collection includes several of these cloths produced in the 20th century by the T’boli dream weavers. They were donated to the TRC by Ruurdje Laarhoven, a Dutch woman now living in the USA, who worked in the Philippines for many years (see a blog of 17 July 2022)..
T'nalak cloths in the TRC Collection (clicking on the number will lead you to the TRC online catalogue):
- TRC 2022.2909
- TRC 2022.2911
- TRC 2022.2912
- TRC 2022.2913
- TRC 2022.2914
- TRC 2022.2915
- TRC 2022.2916
- TRC 2022.2918
I would like to thank Craig Diamond for kindly providing further infomation on these wonderful textiles and their makers.
Willem Vogelsang, 30 March 2023
