AMBALANG ANSALIN
Apuh Ambalang Ausalin is a Filipino master weaver from the city of Lamitan, Basilan. She learned weaving through her mother, who was previously reputed to be the best weaver in Basilan and first practiced the craft by using coconut strips.
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Apuh Ambalang, as she is called by her community of weavers, is highly esteemed in all of Lamitan. As a young girl, her mother, who was the best weaver of her time, mentored Ambalang. She practiced with strips of lugus and coconut leaves (mat-making material). Having learned from her mother the expert, Ambalang, using the backstrap loom, started to weave all designs of the bunga sama category, then took on the sinalu’an and the seputangan, two of the most intricate categories in Yakan weaving. They are the most intricate since the former requires the use of the minutest details of diamond or rhomboid designs, and the latter demands balance and the filling up of all the spaces on the warp with pussuk labung and dinglu or mata-mata patterns.
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Ausalin was given the National Living Treasure Award by the Philippines through the National Commission for Culture and the Arts in 2016.
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The Yakan of Basilan are known to be among the finest weavers in the Southern Philippines. They create eye-catching and colorful textiles with tiny motifs, and possess techniques wielded only by seasoned weavers accomplishing designs restricted for utilization within a certain weaving category only.
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Her skill is deemed incomparable: she is able to bring forth all designs and actualize all textile categories typical to the Yakan. She can execute the suwah bekkat (cross-stitch-like embellishment) and suwah pendan (embroidery-like embellishment) techniques of the bunga sama category. She possesses the complex knowledge of the entire weaving process, aware at the same time of the cultural significance of each textile design or category.
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The National Living Treasures Award, alternatively known as the Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan (GAMABA; lit. 'Award for the Creators of the Country'), is conferred to a person or group of artists recognized by the Government of the Philippines for their contributions to the country's intangible cultural heritage. A recipient of the award, a National Living Treasure or Manlilikha ng Bayan is "a Filipino citizen or group of Filipino citizens engaged in any traditional art uniquely Filipino, whose distinctive skills have reached such a high level of technical and artistic excellence and have been passed on to and widely practiced by the present generations in their community with the same degree of technical and artistic competence."
Feldman's method of criticism
Description
Apuh Ambalang Ausalin has mastered all different categories of a Yakan cloth, but her artistry and craftsmanship are best expressed in the bunga sama, sinalu’an and seputangan. She uses a backstrap loom in creating these products making it very authentic and traditional. All her designs follow a consistent pattern, and the line movements are very precise making it satisfying to look at. For the subject matter, her crafts show the culture and traditions of the Yakan people and how they are preserving it for future generations.
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Analysis
All her artworks always follow a pattern which is very common in this kind of craftsmanship. The line movements are very repetitive, and the color scheme of each artwork is very traditional looking. But the thing that most surprised us while checking her artworks is the materials she used in making all of these masterpieces. Using a backstrap loom makes it more difficult and complicated compared to modern machineries yet she still manages to execute it perfectly.
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Interpretation
Looking at her artworks, you can clearly see how skilled and talented she is and how she still embraces the traditions passed to her by her ancestors. And because of this, she was awarded a National Living Treasures Award. Her products also show her sense of patriotism for it demonstrates the culture of her homeland.
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Evaluation
When I saw her artworks, I was struck by how everything is arranged in a simple yet aesthetically pleasing way since there are patterns found on each product. I think these inspired artworks are clearly a success. Also, knowing that she learned all of this from her mother and the tradition came from her homeland, we can clearly state that her crafts is the most authentic thing you can get.