听
SEYILMAN YSAKBAEVA, 74
Birlik village, At-Bashy district, Naryn oblast
Seyilman apa is a craftswoman from At-Bashy who preserves traditional knowledge of working with horsehair. She knows how to select, clean, sort, twist and join the fibres, transforming them into strong ropes and objects used with horses.
Watching her work made me understand that this kind of knowledge can never be fully captured in a book. It lives in the movement of the hands, in the feel of the material, and in experience accumulated over many years.
Before we left, Salima apa gave me a small handmade horse halter and said:鈥淢ay your road always remain open.鈥� For me, her story is about mastery, memory, and knowledge that can survive only when it continues to pass from one person to another.
听
听
