Introducing Project Mosu
Project Mosu represents the next chapter in the partnership between ETWA and the LO’UD Cooperative, a women-led enterprise in remote Lautém, Timor-Leste. Together, we are strengthening the foundations of LO’UD and contributing to a more inclusive, resilient, and globally connected creative sector in Timor-Leste and Australia.
Over eight weeks in Timor-Leste, Australian volunteers and LO’UD members will modernise LO’UD’s enterprise, creative, and administrative systems to ensure the Cooperative can upscale and grow sustainably without compromising its cultural values.
Project Mosu will embed lessons from international commissions for the Australian War Memorial (2023), The MET Gallery in New York and the EMERGE International Showcase in Singapore. This will enhance our arts and co-design practices capabilities and enrich the content of our renowned Tais, Culture and Resilience exhibition. Upgraded gallery and workshop spaces will support national and international collaboration.
Project Mosu complements activities in Timor-Leste with an ambitious creative program in Australia, expanding our networks, and connecting artists and communities through design, dialogue, and shared purpose.
With more exhibitions, more co-creators, and more opportunities for artist residencies, the project ensures that our collaborations continue to inspire, educate, and engage artists, designers and audiences nationally and internationally into the future.
Stronger systems. Deeper connections. Sustainable futures.
Tais, Culture & Resilience
Woven Stories from Timor-Leste
In the exhibition “Tais Culture & Resilience”, East Timor Women Australia (ETWA) honours the 20-year partnership with the women-led weaving cooperative LO’UD Cooperative in Timor-Leste.
Founded in 2003 by female resistance fighters, LO’UD weaves hand-dyed traditional textiles known as tais, which express cultural identity, ceremony and resistance. The exhibition weaves together powerful narratives of war-time sacrifice, ancestral tradition and contemporary resilience through photography, audio-visual media and the enduring craft of tais making. It celebrates the cooperative’s role in preserving culture, generating income and building community strength.
Through the loom and the lived experience of the weavers, this project reflects a nation’s journey to sovereignty, cultural survival and hope.
ETWA has a big heart for rural women in Timor-Leste.
As a small Australian not-for-profit our volunteers have a direct connection with the communities of women we work with and our people-to-people approach has cultivated life-changing opportunities for members of the LO’UD Cooperative, our key partner in Timor-Leste.
LO’UD Cooperative
ETWA’s Key Partner in Timor-Leste
LO’UD empowers its’ members through local and appropriate economic development whilst ensuring their work preserves culture and leaves a light environmental footprint for future generations.
LO’UD draws its 80 members from three weaving collectives; one located in the flatlands of Lospalos and two in the highlands of Iliomar. In these communities, 80% of women are illiterate and less than 3% of young women attend high school.
LO’UD women speak with one voice to end poverty in their communities! ETWA has supported these amazing women since 2007.
LO’UD’s long-term vision is to seek a balance between dependence and independence and to protect, respect, preserve and cherish their culture and environment to create sustainable futures for their children.
Textiles by LO'UD weavers in Timor-Leste
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NEW Fo Ba Malu Azul Textile 40
$95.00 AUD -
Deolinda Futus Tais
$340.00
