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'Women's strategies against poverty in our province', by Gamfacauca, Indigenous women of Cauca, Colombia. (Photo: Martin Melaugh)

Gamfacauca is a non-profit group of indigenous women and farmers in the region of Cauca in Colombia. Their most important goal is to improve the quality of life of local farming families where, in many cases, the women are the heads of the household. Many of the women work at home so that they may work on their handicrafts, even as they carry out their responsibilities to their families and to their fields.

For the exhibition, the group has produced an Arpillera about life in their province. The exhibition was very appealing to Gamfacauca since the survival of their families stands fundamentally threatened by the existing economic conditions. Their handiwork, in which old traditional techniques survive, is not dominated by the commercial aspect. It is important for the women in Colombia to preserve knowledge on the use of local raw materials and traditional technologies, for example, the extraction of colours from plants, roots and fruits. These are parts of their traditions and the religious rites of their ancestors.

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