The Talking Mats workshop hosted an all female panel called “Baraza la Wanawake”, here translated as “Women’s Council”, where mat plaiters could practise their skill while engaging in poetic dialogue, which is a customary Swahili intellectual knowledge practice.
Doing handicraft whilst simultaneously composing poetry can be observed not only during communal mat weaving, but also during the embroidering of kofia hats and the threading of flower bouquets. Poems composed in such communal plaiting settings are then plaited into the woven products.
Poetic dialogue: Khadija A. Fadhil and Zuwena Msellem
Video production and image credits: Najeeb Ahmad Nassir Juma Bhalo
Video editing: Rebeca Ofek