Revival of Handicraft Traditions
Skills development | Economic Empowerment | Sense of Community
The Trinjans of Punjab, a region that comprises north central India and eastern Pakistan, were "All-Women Communal Platforms" where women got together and sang, embroidered, stitched, exchanged notes about their lives, asked for help and felt empowered about their role in the Village. Trinjans were powerful - not just socially - but also served as catalysts for innovation-led change in the agriculture-based rural economy, especially in the shadow of a strong patriarchal culture. They gave the women of Punjab a collective Voice & a vibrant creative expression - both elements that are strongly tied into Self Esteem, feeling of Productive Worth and hold great Psycho-Therapeutic value. The Partition of India in 1947 led to the division of Punjab and left a deep scar on the region's cultural psyche. The Trinjans went extinct and some of the original indigenous Sainchi Phulkari patterns & motifs are now only available for view in museums.
The Virsa team traveled to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the Spring of 2017 and spent hours with the curator of the **first major American exhibition of exquisite Phulkari embroideries dating back to the 18th century. Our team diligently reproduced parts of these textiles as artwork, stenciled and transferred designs on cloth for Artisans to explore long forgotten stitches & motifs yet again.
The outcomes of this effort were featured in an art gallery in Singapore (Summer, 2017) and more recently, in the Boston area (Winter, 2019-20).