Dalia Bohsali

Remembering Al-Sadu is a­­n an interactive waiting area that creates a learning platform for travellers about the fading craft of the Bedouins. The project acts as a storyteller and focusses on re-awakening a memory, by imitating the bodily movement of the Bedouin weavers.

Bedouins are desert dwellers that are the foundation of the Arab population around the world. In recent years, it seems that these nomads have disappeared. Today, due to rapid regional cultural and economic changes in the Arab world, the relationships between material culture, technical processes, and social identities are fast disappearing in the face of mechanisation and modernism. 

Due in part to the modern settlement of the Bedouin people and rapid economic developments, Bedouin material cultural traditions have diminished, and the number of master weavers has declined considerably; leaving only a few women who retain the knowledge, technical skills, and oral memories. The desert dwellers have settled from goat hair tents to stone houses, and with the beginning of architecture, came a restructuring of social norms and the loss of handicraft.

Bedouin textiles have lost their importance as utilitarian and contemporary material culture. Sadu is the weaving technique that is associated with the Bedouin weaving of goat hair tents. It is an Arabic term, ' السدو', which originates from the term, 'Yasdou'; and refers to the extension of the body, especially of the craftsman’s arm. What happens to a craft that has lost its original purpose and its maker? How does it prevail?

The purpose of this project is to the transmission of knowledge of Bedouin material culture, by using the action of making to teach the user the technical skills of al Sadu. It allows wanderers to partake in a collaborative weaving experience, and is designed to be installed in a regional transition area, such as an airport, encouraging a new generation to take on and understand the principles of the old techniques.

The waiting area takes a vernacular approach, which allows the users to spin their own yarn and weave a collective textile. The newly woven pieces will be added to the unit, allowing it to extend onto the floor, eventually spreading out and taking over the space.