Sibiu, 24 November 2021, 6:00 p.m. – The opening of the exhibition “Saving the Culture of the Other. The research of the Romanian traditional blouse with ornamental stitching (altiță) from the Hârtibaciu Valley”.
Live online on Facebook, November 24, 2021, 6 p.m. – The launch of the selective catalogue “Saving the Culture of the Other. The research of the Romanian traditional blouse with ornamental stitching (altiță) from the Hârtibaciu Valley”.
The project “Saving the Culture of the Other”, initiated in 2021 by the Monumentum Association, starts from the over 20-year experience of the collector Eugen Vaida who, roaming in the villages from Hârtibaciu Valley and Olt Country, bought from the Roma communities over 100 Romanian traditional blouses with ornamental stitching (altiță). The Roma saved elements of the Romanian culture abandoned for various reasons by their own architects, and currently, many of the Roma women still proudly keep between 10 and 30 traditional blouses of Romanian origin.
Unfortunately, the traditional blouses are also lost among these communities, being abandoned by the younger generations who choose the “Argheș” (Argeș) traditional blouse, the latter having a richer ornamentation.
Following the research project “Saving the culture of the other” which aimed at gathering information that can become powerful tools to combat the extreme nationalism and social conflicts, and to facilitate the rapprochement of one culture with the other in the context in which the two have been neighbors for centuries, the research team has developed the selective catalogue “Saving the Culture of the Other. The research of the Romanian traditional blouse with ornamental stitching (altiță) from the Hârtibaciu Valley” and the exhibition “Saving the Culture of the Other”.
The goal of the two cultural objects is, on one hand, to contribute to combating discrimination against the Roma population, in part due to ignorance of cultural phenomena, an increasingly common theme in European public policies and everyday life, and on the other, to promote and capitalize the Romanian traditional blouse with ornamental stitching (altiță) from the Hârtibaciu Valley.
In order to attain this goal, the team worked both in terms of scientific documentation and on the field, thus creating a more complete picture of the context of the emergence and development of the Romanian traditional blouse with ornamental stitching (altiță). The research team documented and reconstituted along with the association “Semne cusute” (“Sewn Signs”), some pieces from the “Eugen Vaida Collection” and photographed, on real models, clothing ensembles and Romanian traditional blouses with ornamental stitching (altiță) from the Hârtibaciu Valley and the Olt Country which are in the Alțâna collection and in the warehouses of the partner museums. During the project, less known local ethnographic centers have been identified whose presence is indicated, but not scientifically proven, by the comparison of specific stitches within a research conducted in partnership with the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant, the Astra National Museum Complex, the Museum of Ethnography Brașov, the Transylvanian Museum of Ethnography and the “Hârtibaciu Valley” History Museum.
The Roma communities in southern Transylvania have more or less voluntarily assumed, for more than a century, the role of guardians of the “Romanian traditional blouse with ornamental stitching (altiță)”, integrating this important element of the folk costume into their own habits and customs. This is an unknown phenomenon both to the general public and the academia, and this is the first time when a research team has turned its attention to this subject.
The project team:
Doina Ișfănoni, Ligia Fulga, Mirela Crețu, Elena Găvan, Sebastian Paic, Ioana Corduneanu, Veronica Vaida, Magdalena Menzinger - photographer, Andrei Tache - DTP, Mara Banu – legal expert, Ana Mihaela Pascu - project assistant, Eugen Vaida - project coordinator.
Models: Gabriela Negru, Ruxandra Pleșa, Crina Roșca.
Make-up and braidings: Mădălina Panduru.
Partners: the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant, the Astra National Museum Complex, the Museum of Ethnography Brașov, the Transylvanian Museum of Ethnography and the History Museum “Hârtibaciu Valley”.
We would like to thank all the museum directors and specialized staff for identifying and assembling the pieces in their collections.
We would also like to thank all the Roma women who voluntarily or involuntarily contributed to saving this important identity element of the Romanian culture.
Press contact: catalina.francu@asociatiamonumentum.ro
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Salv%C3%A2nd-cultura-celuilalt-100888485708276
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/318536756441824
A project cofinanced by the National Cultural Fund Administration - AFCN
The project doesn’t necessarily represent the position of the National Cultural Fund Administration. AFCN is not responsible for the project content or how the project results may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the funding beneficiary.