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Shirt - Anna Apinis, Latvian, Nica Region, Cream Linen, Sydney, 1960s Reg. No: HT 24823

Summary:: Cream linen shirt with traditional Latvian patterns from the Nica Region. It is part of a whole costume which includes a vest, socks and handkerchief. It was woven by Anna Apinis in Sydney in the 1960s. Anna was born in 1913 in Latvia. She attended weaving lessons in Liepaja in Latvia from 1930 to 1933 and spent hours at the nearby Liepaja Ethnographic Museum, recording traditional fabric designs in her notebooks. She had a loom constructed for her by fellow survivors of the World War II in at Memmingen a displaced persons camp in Germany.

In 1950 Anna migrated to Australia with her father Ernest, husband Ervins and son Eriks. She became one of the few suppliers of fabric for Latvian national costumes in Australia in the 1950s and 1960s, and exhibited her weaving nationally, at exhibitions and Latvian cultural festivals. She fulfilled her dream to keep her cultural traditions alive through her daughter Anita who continues to weave to this day.
Description:: Cream linen shirt with open neck to chest with collar embroidered in dark brown snowflake and geometric pattern. Full length sleeves with triangular panels under arms, cuffs edged with dark brown and cream stitched pattern and fastened with fabric buttons and loop holes. Pulled thread border along collar.
Acquisition Information:: Donation from Mrs Anita, 2010

Discipline:	History
Dimensions:	640 mm (Height), 1600 mm (Width)
Dimension Comment:	Width from cuff to cuff; height from collar to hem

Tagged with:	cultural identity, traditional costumes, clothing accessories, handcrafts, latvian communities, latvian immigration, weaving, woolwork
Themes this item is part of:	Anna Apinis, Latvian Migrant & Weaver, 1950, Clothing & Textiles Collection, Immigration & Artistic Practice Collection, Migration Collection
Primary Classification:	CULTURAL IDENTITY
Secondary Classification:	Ethnicity - Creative Practice
Tertiary Classification:	clothing
Maker:	Mrs Anna Apinis, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, circa 1960s
Other Association (See Comments):	Nica, Latvia Based on a design from this region