Art offers itself as a means of integration for migrant women, through the rediscovery and enhancement of their roots, in a project curated by the artist Michela Cavagna that will begin in about ten days in Valdilana. The path, which uses «fiber art» and in particular the «coiling» technique which, common to different cultures, involves wrapping and rolling up the threads, is in turn the result of the encounter between realities that have been able to intertwine.
The first is the “Gomitolorosa4Arts” competition by Gomitolo Rosa, an association inspired by themes such as solidarity, well-being and attention to the environment, which rewards the best works of art and design in wool, capable of transmitting at least one of the three founding values. Michela Cavagna, who last October won the second prize in the competition with the work «Tangled * entangled (or story of a healing)», is the second thread of the plot. In fact, the competition envisages reinvesting the prize, worth 1,000 euros, in an initiative that generates solidarity and well-being in the area. The artist has therefore created a workshop in which to share her art with women who know coiling, a very simple, artisanal and manual textile technique.
He therefore called into play the third thread, that is the Municipality of Valdilana, through the Department of Social Services and above all the Sai project (Reception and Integration System), which supports paths aimed at promoting not only integration into the community, but also the entry of migrants into the world of work. «We thank Michela Cavagna – comments the commissioner Elisabetta Prederigo – for having involved us in this initiative, making her artistic and human resources available. The Maria Cecilia cooperative will follow the project operationally ».
With the support of Roberta Cigolini and other operators of the cooperative, from January 19th and for six months, on a weekly basis, the artist will conduct a workshop aimed at women. “At the moment there are two Nigerian girls who have recently arrived in the village – he explains – and two Moroccan ladies, who have been living here for some time. My intent is to involve them in the creation of a work of art, using a simple technique that they surely know. The goal is to make them rediscover the link with the tradition of the land they have abandoned. It is an experience that I have lived on my own skin and that I think I can share in part with them. At a certain point in my life I left the Biella area and everything it represented, starting from its strong bond with textiles, and I moved to Indonesia. While I was away and trying to cut my roots, I found them right in the weaving. I would like to show these women a way to emancipate themselves in the land they have come to, starting from something that is part of the culture from which they moved away ».