Cleofecelia, a whooly hat, gloves and sheep

CleofeceliaThe meeting with Cleofecelia and her community “Virgenes de las Nieves” looks like a story tale…

“Once upon a time, two small sheep figurines, a gray and a white one adopted by Ayud’Art in Cusco in August 2007. On their way to France where they would be sold by Ayud’Art for CIMA, the two figurines were in the president’s bag when a powerful earthquake came out shaking the bags as well as the humans. Nevertheless they took the plane for the “old continent”. Months past but nobody could sell them, they had been survivor partner of a timeless moment. ?

“Grey and White” have become Ayud’Art mascots.

The following year, they were brought back to their native land to find the knitter that created them in order to create a wool livestock that could be sold. From markets to workshops, from stalls to meetings, nobody could give us information. Who could have knitted these little creatures?

The meeting was as incredible as this nice morning in August, on the edge of the Piuray laguna, 11 237 feets above the sea.

Cleofecelia is the representative of a knitter community and she tells us about her work conditions.

 

Au coeur de la Vallée Sacrée. Entre Cusco et le Machu Picchu, le village de Chinchero où Ayud'art achète des gants, des bonnets, des écharpes et de charmants petits moutons en laine à la communauté de Cléofécélia. Ce sont des tricoteuses hors paire
qui font vivre des traditions ancestrales dans leurs manières de donner forme à la laine qu'elles teignent elles-mêmes. Elles tissent aussi les laines teintes et rivalisent de belle humeur pour créer d'étonnnants moutons à qui il ne manque même pas la parole.