All The Birds

community weaving

The project All the Birds is a collaboration between artist Maria Varela and the women’s community of Di Mulieri in Metsovo, Greece. Drawing inspiration from the tradition of woven dowries, a practice deeply rooted in the Vlach heritage of the region, the participating women selected their favorite decorative motifs, called “birds” in the Vlach dialect, from textiles their mothers had made for them. These motifs were combined to create a new hybrid design that disrupted the traditional creative chain, which demands the exact preservation of patterns to ensure continuity. The new design was collectively woven into a cape, an archetypically masculine garment that was reimagined and feminized as a symbolic act of female empowerment.

The women wore the cape and were photographed in their favorite locations in Metsovo, creating personalized portraits that highlight the interplay between individuality and collective identity. The project bridges past and present, exploring how heritage is preserved, transformed, and personalized. The locations chosen for the photographs, both indoors and outdoors, underscore the connection between the women’s identities and the landscape of Metsovo, a region known for steadfastly preserving its social and cultural traditions.

All the Birds moves seamlessly between the collective and the personal, presenting this duality as complementary rather than opposing. It questions how cultural heritage can evolve and it challenges notions of authorship and tradition by inviting collaborative reinterpretation. Through the transformation of the masculine cape into a shared symbol of feminine strength and the creation of hybrid patterns that tell collective and individual stories, the project celebrates the power of community and the dynamic interplay between memory, identity, and creativity.

In the creation of the artwork All the Birds – Poulioi Di Multou participated: Vasiliki Theodoraki, Evdokia Bisa, Aphrodite Katsora, Chrysoula Stavraki, Eugenia Tzalonikou, Marilena Tzalonikou, Charoula Tzalonikou, Yolanda Tsarouchi, Maria Vadevouli, Doukitsa Zarkadi.

Sound Documentary on the creation of the project by Evita Theochari for dimotikoradiofono
LISTEN HERE

Special thanks to the Municipality of Metsovo for their support and the provision of a work space.

  • exhibition

    HANDMADE: ON THE SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF CRAFT, curator: Katerina Gregou, EMST – National Museum of Contemporary Art & Schwarz Foundation, Art Space Pythagorion, Samos 2022 || Bien21, Textile Biennale Art, Kranj, Slovenia

  • curator

    Artemis Papageorgiou, Mariana Ziku, Elli Leventaki, Katerina Zachou

  • venue

    Mergentaler street gallery

  • year

    2021

  • acknowledgements

    Municipality of Metsovo

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