Atauro Island Timor Leste

A very quick blog post indeed. I am still here though I did manage to lose my passport and mythe american dollars I had taken to spend in the local economy- so hopefully the person who found it will spend it in the same way! It meant a day of bureaucratic running around in Dili with my help Madalena Barreto, we revisited every place where I might have left it, talked to many people, filed police report and  organised an emergency passport- which had it's own complications because I am not actually born in Australia though I have been a naturalised citizen since age 14. Anyway hopefully it is all sorted.So even though the gods took, they also smiled sort of, by limiting the bureaucratic aftermath that these things engender to a day- which is quite remarkable!

I got to Atauro Island on Monday on the dragon boat- the only transport between Timor Leste and the island is a ferry and the dragon boat, otherwise you catch a fishing boat. And then finally I arrived at Boneca de Atauro. I am impressed with what the women achieve on treadle machines. The public generator only runs between 6 pm and 6 am so electricity isn't an option to power machines so hence treadle machines are used. The weather is so warm ( hot really and I am struggling a bit with the heat taking to wearing wet kerchiefs) that we have been working outside. We have been making linocuts. The idea is that I teach some of the younger ones and then they will pass on what they learn to the other women, We are working on linocuts and printing this week and then embroidery by machine and hand maybe- we will see.

It really does have the feel of a far flung place but this makes it wonderful. The people are friendly and the children curious and open.I am looking forward to seeing how this residency will develop!

The Boneca de Atauro shop in Dili. You can aslo buy their product online- just follow the link I have given in the previous paragraph- there is an online  catalogue. This weekend two of my students are going to Bail- to celebrate the win of a stop motion movie they made about the Bonecas ( dolls) de Atauro- they have won many prizes with this little film in Asia

Traditional Tais weaving from the  Museum in Dili.

  Arriving with the dragon boat.

Making designs for linocuts.