Haja Amina Appi. Sama. National Living Treasure

From Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, I crossed the sea for several hours to get to Tandubas just to meet Haja Amina Appi, a National Living Treasure known for her tepo designs. There was a quiet dignity to this Sama woman. I was fortunate to have taken her photograph when I could. She passed away a year later in 2013.

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Manlilikha ng Bayan/National Living Treasures

Haja Amina Appi already comes from a people famous for the weaving of pandamus mats into works of art. With a face exuding serenity, her hands are thick and dye-stained from a lifetime of harvesting pandamus and the drawing out of dream-like designs in her mats. For her, the most difficult part of her craft is culling from ethnic memory the visualization and execution of design. It is high precision work, requiring the mastery of the medium and an instinctive sense of proportion and symmetry, even asymmetry. Proclaimed in 2004 for mat weaving, she was respected and recognized for her artistry even in her own community of weavers. There was gentleness in her teaching of others. And quietly, she passed away in 2013.

- from Pinagmulan, Enumerations from the Philippine Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage