Infinite Circles
“There is no silence here but phrases you avoid hearing.”
– Alejandra Pizarnik
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The origin of the word text is attributed to the Roman author Quintilian, who stated in Institutio Oratoria that «after you have chosen your words, they must be weaved together into a fine and delicate textile»; his original ‘textum’ is the Latin for fabric and text.
The installation Infinite Circles addresses the historically muted territory of the feminine, emulating an array of handmade lace fragments. In these pieces, as in any other ‘text’, the space in-between lines can be more important than the line itself: the stories that remain untold or silenced are those echoed in the void.
This work is compound by identically-sized round scraps of lace-like nets made out of semi-flexible epoxy resin and supported by structured wire circles, as if the pieces were stretched in embroidery frames–tools also used for certain lace-making techniques.
Differentiated by their patterns, the pinkish hues that unify them not only allude to the conventional identification of femininity with this color–which evokes innocence, fragility, and romantic love–but they also remind me of organic body tissue. Within these designs, the epoxy resin loses its artificiality, and it acquires fleshiness.
Considered in many cultures a female craft, handwoven textiles connect us with our ancestors. They are, at once, testimonies, signs of a collectively written text over expansive histories. Therefore, the suffering inflicted by patriarchal societies is a relevant part of them, as it is embodied in our inherited memory.
Traditional craft techniques can be also related to the knowledge stored in our bodies. While lace weaving is an extremely time-consuming task, the manufacturing process of these pieces is significantly more agile. The shift in materiality and process in my work metaphorically accounts for a different historical period and its new ways of making and being, in which fluidity and speed are key.
The development of Infinite Circles also inspired a personal reflection on the binary structures that divide art and craft as high/low cultural expressions, the value of so-called women’s work and the relegated spaces of women within art history.
There has never been silence there. Half-told stories reverberate in the space, and honoring them is a form of healing. So are writing and weaving, subtle yet powerful acts of resistance and re-existence.
– Paula Córdoba