Gabriel and Wagminster

    Teshome Gabriel is an Ethiopian American Film scholar and professor at the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television in Los Angeles. Gabriel’s expertise lies in African film with an emphasis on developing countries. Fabian Wagmister teaches audiovisual creativity at the University of California, Los Angeles and I s a professor in the department of Theater, Film and Television as well.

     In this artciles Gabriel and Wagmister attempt to explain the paralells between weaving and modern technology.  Both authors encourage readers to think beyond the structures of modern technology as well as the ideology that handicrafts like weaving,  are a thing of the past. It is emphasized that in order for older, traditonal societies to come into technology there needs to be an understanding and bridge between both ideologies. “The assimilative process is not to mimic traditional forms in a new medium but to actually mutate the medium itself and have it respond to the aesthetic, intellectual, and spiritual characteristics of the community.” 

     According to Gabriel and Wagminster there are already features present in both mediums that coincide with each other. For example: both require the use of hands, the lexicon of both are integrative. Integrating technology through weaving holds benefits for both third world and western societies. Western societies often don;t acknowledge the the roots of their digital orgins or make the correlation that the weaver is much like the photoshopper. Photoshop can be taught much like weaving and vice versa if the conceptuality is taught with the right mind frame. Overall, the main theme of this article is that technology and weaving should render each other in hopes of benefiting both societies.