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Reviews
Weaving Our Dreams
The Tboli People of the Philippines
Capturing Indigenous Culture with Sandie Oreta Gillis
When Sandie Oreta Gillis first started writing Weaving Our Dreams: The Tboli People of the Philippines, it was supposed to be a brochure for her friend Francis Herradura's art exhibit about Lake Sebu's indigenous T'boli community. Five years later, that brochure expanded to a 77-page book that features and impressive record of stories from the ethnic group's artists about their sacred traditions.
The book is so meticulously detailed that it comes as a shock that she’s never been in the same room as the indigenous women whose stories she is telling—from the details of Maria “Oyog” Todi’s family home to Barbara Ofong’s weaving work, Sandie has helped paint a picture of life in Lake Sebu from her home in Canada, relying on the dreamweavers’ words and translations from their relatives through Zoom calls.
After five years of research and a deep involvement with the communities around Lake Sebu, Sandie’s team realized that the beauty of the T’boli community’s culture couldn’t fully be captured in such a short piece. And so Weaving Our Dreams: The T’boli People of the Philippines came to be.
While Sandie’s name is on the cover, she insists on turning the spotlight away from her to give way for the T’boli people and their art to shine. Ahead of the book’s official launch, she walks us through her process—from the initial visions of a small booklet to the plans she is now overseeing to continue supporting the T’boli community."
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Patricia Villoria
GRID Magazine, June 2022
"Looking back at the Philippine cultural scene of my youth, I recall how the 1960s decade had signalled a robust interest in Filipino ethnic art and culture. That was when Mindanao minority communities, such as the Tboli, received international notice. We, therefore, welcome this current book on the Tboli in which author Sandie Oreta Gillis revives that early fascination with ethnic art and culture of the minority communities of the Philippines. In this illustrated monograph, Gillis gives us direct and detailed personal accounts of the Tboli dreamweavers efforts to preserve and continue their life and culture as manifested in Tboli cloth (tnalak)."
Alfredo Roces
Foreword Excerpt
Weaving our Dreams, 2022
New Book Features: cultural treasures of the T'boli people
Sandie Oreta Gillis' Weaving our Dreams: The Tboli People of the Philippines affords an experience of discovery and rediscovery of the rich cultural heritage of the T'boli, an indigenous ethnolinguistic group in the island of Mindanao, the Philippines. It allows readers to the land of the so-called "dreamweavers," the culture bearers of a sacred textile called t'nalak.
The book tells the stories of textile weaver Barbara Ofong and traditional performer Maria Todi with eye-catching paintings by Mindanaoan artist Francis Herradura of the Vancouver-based Dimasalang III International Artist Group. It is Oreta-Gillis ode to the country of her birth and an exploration of Lake Sebu, a picturesque town located in the hinterlands of the province of South Cotabato. It is also of note that Weaving our Dreams is a product of the coronavirus pandemic and the technologies, particularly online platforms of communication, that came to prominence during the lockdowns and restricted movements.
The book is a good introductory resource for overseas Filipinos wanting to rediscover their roots and it invites foreign readers to visit and enjoy the cultural heritage and natural wonders not only of Lake Sebu but the country as well.
It is written in such a way that readers can get involved and be engrossed in the narratives. It is as if one is reading a tale from an elder of a community, teeming with vignettes and anecdotes on the lives of the persons discussed as well as their vibrant culture. The biographical sketches are intertwined with stories of struggle, hope and celebration.
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Edgar Allan M. Sembrano
Daily Tribune, July 2022
Vancouver author writes about land of "dreamweavers" in book on ethnic tbolis of the Philippines
In the mountains of southern Philippines lives an Indigenous community with a unique weaving tradition.
A spirit called Fu Dalu is believed to inspire the design of the tnalak (also spelled t’nalak and tinalak), a hand-woven cloth indigenous and sacred to the Tboli (T’boli, Tiboli).
Fu Dalu is the goddess of the abaca plant, whose fibers are used for the tri-colour fabric.
She comes in the dreams of Tboli women.
These women are called “dreamweavers”.
One of these dreamweavers is Barbara Ofong, whose story is told in a new book by Vancouver author Sandie Oreta Gillis.
“Barbara was fifteen when she first encountered Fu Dalu in a dream,” Gillis wrote in Weaving Our Dreams – The Tboli People of the Philippines (FriesenPress).
Fu Dalu communicates with Ofong through the Tboli woman’s dreams, and guides her with the design of her tnalak.
“In her dream, Fu Dalu sometimes takes on the form of a lizard, frog or snake. Barbara will incorporate the skin pattern of the animal into the design of the tnalak. Sometimes Fu Dalu takes on the form of a person in the dream.”
Gillis related that making a tnalak is a lengthy process, sometimes taking up to three or four months to finish a six-metre fabric.
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Carlito Pablo
Georgia Strait, August 2022
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