The Embroidery of the Rabari
Gujarat, India 2009… A Village in Kutch
A Rabari woman adds gold thread to red silk. We visited some master needleworkers and some women who were just learning. The skillful women taught the less skillful.
The village women know that they can earn money for their families by selling their embroidery as art. The husbands of the women know this, too. Some husbands promoted themselves to broker and it was they who showed the fabrics and haggled over prices while the woman sat in the background….busily embroidering, naturally.
I shot from a ‘bird’s eye view’ here. I wanted the woman’s hands to show action. I didn’t want any walls or clutter so I zoomed in. The colors say luxury but the tattooed hands say hard work.