Lecture Series on Phil Textile and Indigenous Knowledge Kick Off

The Senator Loren Legarda Lecture Series on Philippine Traditional Textiles and Indigenous Knowledge officially starts today along with the preview of the Textile Galleries at the National Museum.

The initiative was conceptualized by Senator Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committee on Cultural Communities. It aims to explore the aesthetics, material culture and processes of ethnic identity along with skills and information-generation through fabric.

Dr. Maria Stanyukovich, Curator of the Philippine and Southeast Asian Textiles in the Peter the Great Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, will deliver a presentation in the inaugural lecture today.

"Through this Lecture Series, which will be documented and shall be part of the annals of the National Museum, we hope to revive in every Filipino the love for our heritage," Legarda stressed.

National Museum Director Jeremy Barns explained that after the inaugural lecture, the succeeding lectures will be held every third Friday of every other month at the new Textile Galleries of the National Museum.

The intersection of the transmission of how things are made with local technology, adaptation and innovations to perform and renew customs will be explored through the Lecture Series. Eminent scholars, local and foreign experts on fabric and weaving culture will talk on current research, field experiences and new knowledge emanating from discourses, interactions and practices.

Legarda said that the Lecture Series form part of the effort to bring Filipinos closer to their heritage, while the Textile Galleries are product of a vision many years ago to hold in one museum the rich collection of indigenous textiles in the country.

"In this modern day and age, it is quite a difficult task to make our people embrace our culture since many may have long forgotten about it. But if they refuse to visit our history, we must let history visit them. These Textile Galleries and the Lecture Series we organized are some of our efforts towards that," Legarda concluded.