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Homer refers to the faithful and cautious Penelope, wife of Ulises that had in front of her a vertical high thread warp, as cited “she came to an end in her bedroom of a big warp in which she weaved a long and fine veil…” during the day she worked with the big fabric and during the night she undid the work under the lights of the torches. |
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Penelope, through her never-ending anguish, perpetuated the gesture of the presomptuous Aracne, so discrete in the practising of her art : “the same – says Ovidio – as when she started forming round balls with the rough wool than when she modeled them with the fingers, and so working on the product of the shaving, that looked like snow flakes, she pulled it out into long flexible twigs, or when she made the pollished spindle turn with the handle, including when she sowed with the needle, it always seemed like she had taken lessons from Palas”. |
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Aracne, an obstinate lad, didn't want to give him himself out the first to the goddess. His ability made him funest : “without loosing any time, they both installed their two fabrics together, and holding in them the subtil threads of the warp. The widths of the fabric are joined together by the crosspiece ; a cane keeps the threads of the warp separated. Between them, the thread of the work in progress is incorporated by sharp chuttles under the impulsion of the nimble fingers, that once introduced into the warp, push the teeth of the cut comb by giving small jolts.”
Both of them work fast, with the sleeves of their raised-sleeves tuniques up to the breasts, by moving their experienced hands with a dedication that makes them forget their tiredness. The purple ink that proceeds from the bronze cubes incorporates itself in the fabric and the deeper tones are separated by light shades ; in the same way, the chock of the rain with the sun beams draws a huge and shaded rainbow in the sky : even if inside of it thousand of colors shine, the transition between one and the other grasps the sight of the one that contemplates the show : it bounds itself so well in the contact spot. And so, without any doubt, the difference between the two extremes is big. With the threads, the flexible gold mixes itself up, and representations of ancient tales reveal themselves on the fabric.
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Each fact that represented Aracne turned out to be a disaster: the abusive and pastoral love of the goddesses ; a non innocent sheepfold – more of a zoological – where bulls, cows, sheeps, horses, eagles, swans and snakes embraze themselves with sheperds and sheperdess, and where the ivy made love with the flowers. Knowing that her work transformed her into an execrable spider that continues to paciently decorate our dissapearances with her fines hangings… |
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But Homer, Ovidio, Penelope and Aracne are references of this occidental vision, european centered, that demand so much energy in being overcome by us.
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In reality, the egyptians of the XVIII dynasty allready worked with tapestry, the art of decorating the walls of the houses and temples by covering them with COLGADURAS, almost two thousand years before our era.
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Penélope y Aracne