KARIN ALTMANN
is an Austrian artist, academic, art mediator and a senior lecturer at the Department of Textile Arts, University of Applied Arts Vienna, where she teaches on three main areas: dyeing with natural dyes, textile printing, and textile production fields. Besides, she has been developing and participating in a series of transcultural projects with international partners from Bhutan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Japan, Ghana and Mali, and also in art projects with children, people with disabilities, refugees, and women in psychological or social need. As both an artist and researcher, her interests are the practical and theoretical exploration and development of the textile element as a specific mediality, with regard to its appearance and significance in art, culture and society, but also to its potential as networking model. LINK
ABOUBAKAR FOFANA
Born in Mali and raised in France, Aboubakar Fofana is a multidisciplinary artist and designer whose working mediums include calligraphy, textiles and natural dyes. He is known for his work in reinvigorating and redefining West African indigo dyeing techniques, and much of his focus is devoted to the preservation and reinterpretation of traditional West African textile and natural dyeing techniques and materials. He is currently deeply involved in creating a farm in conjunction with the local community in the district of Siby, Mali, in which the two types of indigenous West African indigo will be the centrepiece for a permaculture model based around local food, medicine and dye plants. This project hopes to contribute to the rebirth of fermented indigo dyeing in Mali and beyond, and represents his life’s greatest project to date. LINK
TRISTAN TOÉ
is an organic vegetable farmer who grew up in Mali and France. He has been growing organic vegetables at BIOsain in the Waldviertel region of Austria since 2011 and supplies around 100 households with healthy, high-quality and diverse vegetables. To make this possible requires a healthy and intact environment and ecosystem. That is why he focused from the beginning on healthy soils, diversity and vital, seed-proof vegetables. With respect and love, Tristan created a small organic paradise on what was once a sandy and barren ground. He has a unique relationship with the earth, which he does not dig up, but nourishes, and understands Mother Nature like no other. LINK