StoryTime Around the World: Ifugao Tales

Schedule
2-3pm Storytime in the Gallery 

3-4pm Art-Making in Courtyard
Join co-curator of Mountain Spirits, Gassia Armenian, for a lively reading of Benita and the Binobodan: An Ifugao Story, written by Marlon Martin and illustrated by Kizel Kotiw-An. The story follows a young girl who initially resists learning to weave but is sent to a neighboring village, where skilled artisans teach her the intricate techniques of binobodan, an ikat textile historically associated with Ifugao elites.
Textile weaving is central to the transmission of Ifugao cultural values. Researchers from the Cordillera Textile Project (CordiTex) examine how these traditions are preserved and reinterpreted over time, including through children’s storytelling. Discover how Benita’s journey unfolds as she becomes a master weaver, gaining a deeper understanding of her cultural inheritance.
Gassia Armenian is a curator and researcher at the Fowler Museum at UCLA, where she conducts collections research and manages exhibitions. She has curated several notable exhibitions, including those on Armenian textiles and diaspora, which received recognition from the Armenian Academy of Sciences in 2023, and pioneering exhibitions featuring interactive technology. Currently, she is curating an exhibition on the Ifugao people of the Philippines and developing a project linking global artists to local communities for ancestral healing. Prior to the Fowler, she worked with USAID in Armenia on civics education.
Image courtesy of CordiTex; Written by Marlon Martin and illustrated by Kizel Cotiw-An. Published by Cordillera Textile Project, CordiTex, Baguio. City, Philippines, 2020.

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Host or Publisher Fowler Museum at UCLA