Naga Padma awardee Neihunuo Sorhie wants to pass on weaving skills to save art from fading out

Nagaland’s master weaver Neihunuo Sorhie, who has been selected for the Padma Shri award lamented that the art is “slowly fading” and she is consequentially on a mission to teach the next generation the skills she picked up as a young girl.

Two persons from Nagaland Sorhie and Moa Subong – have been selected for Padma Shri award in the field of Art.

“Traditional weaving is slowly fading therefore I endeavour to pass on the legacy of traditional crafts and preserve traditional Naga designs to anyone interested,” she told PTI here.

Born in 1963, Sorhie who lives in Kohima district is from the Angami community, learned the art of weaving at the age of four from her mother and by the age of six, she could weave clothes which was a big achievement as weaving was considered a major occupation of Naga women then.

Due to financial constraints, Sorhie was compelled to drop out of school and chose to turn to weaving which however soon became her passion, Sorhie told PTI.

Sorhie is today a master crafts-person, who has also trained over 300 local Naga women including school dropouts, widows, children and students in loin loom weaving, knitting and beadwork to help them become self- reliant and earn their livelihood.

She has participated in over 120 exhibitions, trade fairs and melas across India and foreign countries as a representative of India.

Recently, she represented India at an exhibition on “Naga Weaving Works” in Paris where she demonstrated the art of loin-loom weaving

The 60-year old weaver also has several awards to her credit, some of which include National Handloom Award in 2007; Sant Kabir Award in 2018; Balipara Foundation Naturenomics Assam Award, 2014 and State Awards to Mastercraftsmen from the Government of Nagaland in 2001.