Wovens

BALKAN BAROQUE

The Balkan region of southeastern Europe is one of great ethnic and religious diversity, vibrant traditions and culture, and a rich history marked by Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman, and myriad other influences throughout history. The twentieth century was marked by great political, socio-cultural, and territorial change with the rise of Socialism under Tito’s Yugoslavia, and subsequent war and civil unrest that has brought turbulence to the region in recent decades. 

This collection explores the story of the Balkan region by examining its territorial history, emphasizing borders as agents of both division and unity. The collection is a three part narrative describing the decay of order into chaos that has occurred as ideological, physical, and ethnic borders have shifted and been redrawn. Whether the collection tells a story beginning in order and ending in chaos, looking first at modernity and then at history or vice versa is up to the viewer’s interpretation. It is up to the viewer to decide whether the current, overarching narrative of the Balkan region is one of organized multiplicity, fragmented turmoil and simmering tension, or something different altogether. The collection seeks to inspire discussion as it calls into question how the world defines the Balkan region, and how it defines itself in the context of its recent history. The title is borrowed from Yugoslavian-born performance artist Marina Abramović, whose 1994 performance piece of the same name highlighted the contradictions present in her home region at the time. 

The inspiration for this collection came from primary research of twentieth-century embroidered fabrics from the Balkan region held at the Philadelphia University Design Center archives. The drab, muted color palette was inspired by what Marina Abramović describes in her memoir as the “pure ugliness” of Communist aesthetics, and film photographs of the Balkan region taken in the 1940’s and 1950’s that were found while researching Balkan history. The imagery used to make the weave designs is derived from both current and historic maps of the Balkan region. The three fabrics were woven on an electronic jacquard loom and programmed using Pointcarré software. Completed in 2017.  

The Abstraction of Nature

With the continued integration of technology into everyday life, and the constant distraction of the internet, it is easy to argue that humans are more disconnected from nature than ever before. Amid this distraction and purported aversion to nature there is a strong movement to unplug, disconnect, and simply get outside. Even if the wheels of modern manufacturing warp nature into unrecognizable forms, humans are still dependent on the natural world and its resources to fulfill basic needs. How can the natural world become more integrated with the human world in order to help one redefine themselves in a context outside the human-centric world? Perhaps deepening the connection between people and nature lies in abstracting familiar elements of the natural world and remixing them into symmetrical forms the brain can easily parse through its affinity for pattern. 

This collection is comprised of woven fabrics that abstract a common feature of nature: the humble and ubiquitous beetle. The complex design are reminiscent of mandalas, and are set in radial, repetitive designs at macro and micro scales. Such intricacy invites a viewer to take a closer look to discover that the patterns are made up of fauna, and that nature has entered their lives in a clandestine, unobtrusive way. The collection is rendered in two colorways: one in sunny pastels, the other in earth tones. The pastel fabrics are lightweight, designed to be worn in breezy garments, brining nature into intimate contact with the body, while the earth tones are suitable for upholstery, allowing nature to season the home. 

Woven on an industrial jacquard loom and programmed using Pointcarré software using various repeat sizes. Completed in 2017.