An exhibition of rural and nomadic handmade dolls was held on July 22-23 at Tehran’s Avaye-Tabiate-Paydar Institute, a tourism center, to highlight rural handicrafts and their potential for creating jobs and income.
Institute director Afsaneh Ehsani, said the exhibition aimed to help create supplementary income for rural folk, Mehr News Agency reported.
“Handicrafts portray Iranian rural culture. The dolls, made by nomadic women, link different generations and help introduce traditional cultural values.”
Ehsani described the dolls as “unique” since all stages of design and creation were done by female artists and their family members in South Khorasan, Qazvin and Qeshm Island. In addition, the craftswomen interacted closely with one another in the process.
It provided them an opportunity to sing lullabies and poems and recall past memories. “In a sense it was a revival of indigenous values,” she said.
Two kinds of South Khorasan Province dolls are registered as Intangible Cultural Heritage. The creativity of the craftswomen drew large crowds to the exhibition which had over 5,000 handmade dolls on display.
Rural production can boost creativity and confidence and help create jobs and income, Ehsani added.
Producing and conserving local handicraft is one way to promote living conditions in local communities. There is a close link between handicrafts, eco-tourism and tourism in rural communities and the institute’s field of work in handicrafts and local art. Many projects have been conducted or are on the agenda.
The projects are mainly designed towards identifying, promoting, revitalizing and production and marketing rural and nomadic handicrafts. Rural women are making effort to help sustain the projects.
Avaye-Tabiate-Paydar, a non–commercial institute registered in 2005, has a team of experts in planning and execution of surveys, studies and projects on environment, biodiversity, tourism, eco-tourism, architecture, culture, handicrafts and job opportunities. The projects are conducted in different parts of the country and in close cooperation with local communities.
