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ICR’s “Weavings of War” Exhibit Combines Beauty, Horror and Hope

January 10-17, 2007
By The Hartford News

The Institute for Community Research (ICR) will close its powerful exhibit Weavings of War: Fabrics of Memory with a celebration of Bosnian culture this Saturday, January 13, from 4 to 6 pm.

Last Saturday, ICR hosted a festival of Southeast Asian culture with traditional dance, music and food from that corner of the world.

This Saturday’s event, hosted by ICR’s Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program (CHAP), will feature members of Hartford’s Bosnian community who will sell crafts such as rugs, crochet and lacework as well as demonstrating weaving on their looms. Pastries and other traditional foods will also be served.

The event will take place at ICR, 2 Hartford Square West (146 Wyllys St.), Suite 100 in Hartford. The event is free; advance registration is required by calling 860-278-2044 x251.

This Saturday’s event will be the last opportunity to view Weavings of War at its only showing in Southern New England. The exhibit showcases 60 textiles made by artisans from Laos, Vietnam, Peru, Chile, Afghanistan, South Africa, and Palestine. While the exhibit deals with war and trauma, its central theme demonstrates that art, narrative, and tradition can have a healing effect on those who have suffered through strife. “Members of Hartford’s surprisingly large Bosnian community have wonderful traditional skills, particularly in needlework and weaving, and want to present those to the larger public,” says Lynne Williamson, who directs CHAP and who brought the exhibit to ICR. “War affects whole generations of people even after the fighting stops, and many refugees in Connecticut are still confronting physical and psychological trauma. Sharing their culture, traditions and stories with the public in the context of this exhibit is one opportunity for them to make an effort to heal.” Among refugees from the recent genocide and civil war in Bosnia now living in Hartford are 700 widows whose husbands and sons were killed during that conflict.

For more information about the exhibit, please visit www.incommunityresearch.org/weavingsofwar.htm or contact Lynne Williamson at 860-278-2044 x251.