Awa Meité

Researcher in Residence OBORO (2007)

Daoula and La Couverture Vivante

From October to December 2007, Malian artist Awa Meité will collaborate with independent French film editor Anik Hurst during a research and experimentation residency at OBORO's MediaLab. The residency will be used to develop two interactive Internet portals that will highlight Malian cotton production (Daoula) and local cultural practices from around the world (La Couverture Vivante).

As the founder of the Daoula project, Meité is interested in drawing attention to all aspects of local cotton production, including the cotton growers, spinning wheel operators, artisans, dyers, embroiderers, tailors, and merchants. Mali is one of Africa’s largest cotton producers, yet less than 5% of the cotton grown here is processed locally. Meité intends to create a Daoula Internet portal to serve as an educational and documentation tool for stories about the economy and the sustainability of local cotton production. The portal will also serve as an interactive meeting space to promote artistic creativity and civic participation.

Initiated by Les brasseurs de cages and with the participation of Hurst, La Couverture Vivante project will enable women from around the world to upload images of self portraits created with squares of fabric. Each woven self portrait will be associated with culture-specific information and organized by theme and will also include an interactive timeline.

The aim of the residency is to allow Meité and Hurst to collaborate as artists on the creation of these two Internet projects. The residency will also permit them to learn the skills and techniques needed to artistically create an educational, interactive Web site that highlights local knowledge while offering a space for the sharing of information among users.