A Quick Chat With…Artist Moraa Nyaribo

Beginnings

My name is Moraa Nyaribo. I consider myself a textile artist, a fiber artist. My background is in fashion and textiles. I worked in the industry for around eight years and then decided to move to the States to do my MFA in fibers.

I grew up in my mom’s fashion boutique, and she’s had her [business] for over 35 years now. So, it’s actually even older than me. So I spent a lot of time there,  just playing with fabrics as a kid after school. Changing adult outfits every day because there’s so much scrap. And I guess that’s kind of where my interest or love of fabrics started. And I thought I wanted to be a fashion designer because that’s what I knew, because that’s what my mom was. And I did it for a couple of years and then was really more fascinated with how textiles were made.

School in the States

So then I decided to come and do my Masters. And in Savannah, it was just a very eye-opening, freeing experience throughout the grad program because I never really see myself as an artist. Because I wasn’t exposed to it. Not for lack of anything, but it’s just being an artist in Kenya is not as fancy as, you know, being a doctor or being a pilot or something. It’s like, “You went to school and how… Make that make sense.” So I’m here now, and my eyes are opened. “Okay, this is a career path. Like you can actually be an artist.” And it’s appreciated here, and there’s community and an audience.

So, I’ve always had this dream in the back of my head. And I went into grad school not really knowing so maybe different ways textiles were made or how they lived. And once I went into grad school, I made sure like to know how everything is made. Like what is this, how is it made, what fiber is this, how is that transformed into this. So it was a really big learning curve for me as well.

And I found weaving towards the very end of my program, like I think two quarters in. And it’s changed out my whole thesis and based it all on weaving because I was like, “This is the way I can be able to now communicate my ideas. It feels like it’s an extension of my arm, an extension of my feelings, of the ideas that I have.” I felt like I could communicate it best through weaving. And so I just geeked out and tried to understand weaving, different machines…I worked with computer-aided looms.

Work Themes and Materials

I tend to use a lot of materials that speak to the black experience. So, hair, beading…Because when I grew up, we dressed up. It was extravagant. You got your hair done. You know, my mom is a designer, so I’m used to having the opportunity to dress up, be cute, pick out fabrics, design my own clothes. And coming here, I was like, “Oh my gosh. No one wants to dress up!” I always look like I’m in a going somewhere, and I’m really not. I just woke up. (Laughs)

But then seeing how to translate my identity or just the black experience, the black joy that I grew up with in my life…And so using hair, for instance, thinking about it in its traditional sense or historically: hair has been a fixture of black global culture anywhere you go. It’s been a way for us to communicate a lot of things.

Like you would have braid patterns that communicated your status – your marital status or your status in society, if you’re a child, if you’re a wife. If you are mourning, you shaved your head. So hair is very [significant], as I’m doing the research. So, I’m very, I guess I would say passionate in knowing or understanding how my people lived before colonization and Christianity and seeing how to tie that into my identity as I’m also trying to figure myself out as an artist.

Craft technology

I think [advances in craft technology] are wonderful. The possibilities are limited on more traditional, non-technology looms. But once you bring in technology, the possibilities are endless. So for me to achieve like for instance, the pictoral that you see in [Slow/Make exhibition piece], I’m able to almost map out to each pixel with a computer, as opposed to here I’m working by eye, and I can only get so close to like the picture as much as I want. Also, just the time that it would take for me to do it on the non-computer-aided loom large as compared to me sketching it out on a computer app weaving software…It’s connected to the loom. So it knows exactly which strings to pull. It’s so, so much easier, and I enjoy it. I like being able to kind of mesh the two because my work is so inspired by tradition, but I’m looking at it through a modern lens. I live in a technological age.

My advice to someone new to and possibly intimidated by crafting arts

Try, try. I wouldn’t have known or gotten into this path without trying. I tried out a lot of things before I then ended up in weaving. And I could have started weaving at the beginning. I just was like, “It looks like it’s going to take too much time that’s going to be too tedious.” I came in thinking I wanted to be a designer, so I was trying to take classes to align my life to the life of a designer. And I actually didn’t even want that. It was just what I thought was safe. So, taking risks, I guess… Take a small class here to see if you like these weaving. There’s a six-week class here.  You can try it out and see if it’s something that you enjoy doing.

Any fiber craft or whatever craft it is, there’s a lot of small courses or short courses that you could take just to explore and see whether it’s something you like doing

About teaching at Craft Alliance
Everyone brings a really unique perspective and energy to the class every time. We come in being able to share about you know, just normal life. Because for me, weaving is a meditation. And, I see that through other people. For instance, in this class, there are people who have been here for 20 years. And you realize it’s more than the class. But it’s also like a sense of community that’s formed. And it’s the same ones who come in every year, every season in the class. And just that sense of community – the students are being able to create an environment for them to be safe and to make and be vulnerable and, you know, just get into the making.

What makes Craft Alliance special?
I think the people. I enjoy coming and, you know, meeting a friendly face at the entrance. There’s always somebody to help or try to figure out if I’m having any issues in my class or materials, equipment, ordering supplies. It’s a very warm and welcoming experience with the staff, even outside of the students. Coming into this space is fun.