The 2nd ASEAN Traditional Textiles Symposium

So much humanity is expressed in textiles, wrote one Philippine textile scholar. And so much of humanity’s intangibles are woven and interlaced within textiles: representations, expressions, values, traditional skills, native creativity and technologies.

It is as much for its affection for textiles, and indeed, for the people who weave and work them, as the insatiable curiosity about cultural connections that has urged the National Museum to participate in this present endeavor. Contributing to efforts towards the sustainability of the woven heritage of the cultural communities in the ASEAN region that count weaving among its most precious is the one of the objectives of this symposium. To thank all those who continue to weave, and manifest the appreciation that those of us who do not weave hold, are yet two more.

Corazon S. Alvina
Director
National Museum of the Philippines
Manila, February 2009