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Arts & Entertainment

Refugee Woven Rugs Exhibit

The Institute for Community Research will host the opening of Rugs of Remembrance:  Bosnian Weaving in Hartford, on Thursday November 3, 2011 from 5 to 7 PM at the ICR Gallery, 2 Hartford Square West, 146 Wyllys St., in Hartford. The exhibit will display hand woven rugs, carpets, and wall hangings made by skilled Bosnian weavers living in Hartford.  A special memorial quilt from Bosnia will also be on view, loaned by the social justice organization Advocacy Net. The event will also feature weaving demonstrations as well as Bosnian music and food.

Greater Hartford is now home to over 10,000 Bosnians, many coming here as refugees from the war in the former Yugoslavia. For the many widows in the community, continuing to practice their familiar arts of weaving, knitting, and crochet lace helps them to cope with the trauma of the genocide their families suffered. For five years, ICR’s Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program has worked with Bosnian artists to encourage production and marketing of their exquisite carpets, called çilim.  Our project has helped to improve English skills, involve the weavers in American society, and support their families.  Some of the master weavers have been teaching young women in the community to weave, helping to pass on the tradition in their new home.

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