Textiles That Tell A Story

Telling a story.

We all have a story to tell.

Our country, our state, our neighborhood, the families on our street all have a story we are connected to.

We share in something.

Maybe part of the story is with our faith, our nationality or our food.

I was raised "up North", now I live in "the South" but I feel connected even though I haven't lived there for years.

Our differences, the North and the South are as blinding as they are slight.

But, Lord help you if you mess with "sweet tea" in the South. 

In the South it is soda, in the North it is pop. In the South it is grits and in the North, well, in the North it is not grits, not ever. 

We have just painted the "fabric" of culture using food as language.

The North vs the South, unsweet tea vs sweet tea, in Africa it is  Kitenge vs Khanga or Egyptian cotton vs Raffia.

Just has food has a language so does fabric. 

It is a beautiful story.

Fabric will tell you who, what and where just by the design.

It carries heritage that spans generations, it tells you the country, the neighborhood and their story. 

Literally.

I some parts of Africa they use fabric as the voice to tell the story of the political climate, of communities speaking their mind. 

Subtle, or not so subtle.

We all speak our mind, maybe you wear a t-shirts with words.

In Cambodia, they say, "same, same but different".

We are truly the same in oh so many ways. 

It is really about learning the language, the fabric our communities are cut from to know we are all made of the same cloth when it comes down to it.