Watch Nita Nez talk about the tradition of rug weaving. This technique has been passed down to her from her mother and next, her daughter… She talks about her earliest memories of her family rug weaving and also talks us through how it is done. What I found the most fascinating (spoiler alert) is that when making a rug there is no pre-planning of a design it is simply all in their minds of what they want it to look like. Also, this is spoken in Navajo so it was really interesting to hear the unique sounds (of which I had never heard before).
Enjoy!
Description:
“This documentary film was researched, photographed, edited and produced by students of Winona State University (Winona, Minnesota) and Diné College (Tsaile, Arizona, Navajo Nation) during summer 2013. It contains stories Nita Nez of Rock Point, Arizona, told the students during several hours of interviews about her life. This documentary film is archived at the Navajo Nation Museum, Navajo Nation Library, Winona State University Library, and Diné College Library, and will be archived at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian. The film is part of the Navajo Oral History project, a multi-year collaboration between the Winona State University Mass Communication Department and Diné College– The Tribal College of the Navajo Nation.”
