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Go west of Siem Reap again. Down a dirt road
through sparkling rice paddies you will find weavers at every house. In
the shade under one stilt house, three generations of women laugh and
gossip while their fingers deftly shape pencil-thick reeds into
traditional platters, baskets, plates and bowls. They range in age from
15-year-old Chun Noy to 57-years Heang Nung, who learned the craft from
her mother and grandmother. |
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Weaving steadily from dawn to dusk, they produce a
plate in two days for sale locally, and big baskets for export to
neighboring Thailand. They harvest the vines themselves, trekking off
toward the jungle and returning at night with material to last several
days. At dusk, one can easily see bicycles packed with the day's harvest
returning to the villages. They do all the work. Chun Neng, 18,
cross-legged in a traditional sarong, skillfully strips thin threads for
weaving, running them along a razor-sharp knife.
A few meters down the road five teenage girls sit in
a thatched lean-to at roadside, with a fat pink-and-gray pig asleep at
their feet. They weave small bowls with "legs" used to make
offerings at pagodas, weddings and other occasions. Each makes three
bowls a day, and sells them to help contribute to the livelihood of the
family. They sit along the roadside; they giggle to attract customers.
Their marketing plan is simple, but effective, as their day's production
sells quickly. It is a small triumph of art and business in a
distant rice paddy, but it is part of a larger success across the
country, the revival of tradition, the rebirth of native art. |
