GR references

Daniel Boyd, the first indigenous Australian to win the prestigious Bulgari Art Award, focuses his practice on images of colonial and postcolonial Australian-European history. He reinterprets portraits of prominent figures in his signature black-and-white dotted style, suggesting an alternative truth underlying the representation of these so-called heroes.

In An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar (2007)

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U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Contraband Room
John F. Kennedy International Airport
Queens, New York

In An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar (2007), Simon compiles an inventory of what lies hidden and out-of-view within the borders of the United States. She examines a culture through the documentation of subjects from domains including: science, government, medicine, entertainment, nature, security, and religion. Confronting the divide between those with and without the privilege of access, Simon’s collection reflects and reveals that which is integral to America’s foundation, mythology, and daily functioning.

Transatlantic Sub-marine Cables Reaching Land
VSNL International
Avon, New Jersey

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In “Knit for Defense, Purl to Control” Jacqueline Witkowski examines the history of craft in relation to war and considers the act of knitting in light of the digital world. The author looks at artists such as Cat Mazza and Kristen Haring, whose projects have complicated women’s perceived historical roles in war. In her article, Witkowski ultimately argues that craft possesses a direct link to the industrial war complex and capitalism despite an encouraged revival of predominantly feminist/feminine/gendered mediums that now constitute the craft market and contemporary scholarship on the topic.

Her ambiguity in Knit for Defense stems from the utilization of machine-knitted swatches of these scenes of war, taken from photographs from World War II, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, along with aerial footage captured by drones. She uses Knitoscope, a computer program that manipulates the photographed imagery and turns it into video footage that appears to be comprised of knits and purls, actions that occur when inserting the knitting needless through the bottom or top of looped yarn to create two basic stitches. Mazza invented the program herself and blends together two stereotypical tropes: the gendered craft of knitting and the masculinized world of war surveillance.10 Knit for Defense, therefore, plays with a very layered and nuanced history regarding knitting, photography, film and war culture.

Cat Mazza is an American textile artist. Her practice combines tactical media, activism, craft-based art making and animation in a form that has frequently been described as craftivism. She is the founder of the craftivist collective microRevolt.

CLICK TO READ ARTICLE BY JACQUELINE WITKOWSKI

Stills from “Knit for Defense” (2012) copyright Cat Mazza

Sim Chi Yin’s Remnants and Requiem take us on a cinematic journey through traces of hidden histories. The ethereal landscapes she conjures are an unspoken archive of an undeclared war. Evocative of the unknown or unknowable, these sites hold fragments of the twelve-year conflict between the British colonial government and the resistance led by the Malayan leftists (from 1948 to 1960).

“One Day We’ll Understand”

Sim has sought out some of the unrecorded stories, songs, memories, artefacts and documents of the leftist foot soldiers, creating an assemblage that is an unofficial, alternate archive of that war. In Remnants, she shows unembellished photographs of 32 of the objects she has made still-life studies of from her visits with the old left across southern China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and southern Thailand.

Photographic installation, variable dimensions

So I went on and interviewed twenty people—mostly family members—and I discovered many similarities among the different generations. It was quite interesting to see how each generation copes with their trauma caused by the dictatorship and the exile and the arising questions surrounding identity. Eventually I created a book called ‘Los Que Faltan’ that captures these stories.

Los Que Faltan is a multilingual book that consists of three parts, or better: three different perspectives. The first perspective is an external one. It includes texts that describe historical events and statistics that give insight into the circumstances of the time period the book speaks about. The second part focuses on my family history through the documents and images I was able to collect. The third part is much more personal and consists of the testimonials of the people I interviewed. The book is written in three languages, Spanish, the language of my upbringing, French, the language I spoke when I lived in France, and English, as I am educated in English. By doing so, I add my own perspective to the book.

In November 2020, I applied for Argentine citizenship. I am eligible for dual citizenship because both of my parents are Argentinian. While doing the paperwork I realised that I did not know much about the history of my family. I started wondering why I was born and raised in France, even though both of my parents are Argentinian. I decided to ask my grandmother to tell me more about my family’s history, because I knew she had worked on a family tree in the past. She gave me a stack of documents that she had used to retrace the history of the family and the circumstances that led them to leave Argentina. Using this as a starting point, I collected my own little archive of family documents.

The question of identity became apparent quite early on in my research. I could tell that this was still a very vivid topic in Argentinian culture. The events that took place, such as the dictatorship and the exile, caused a lot of trauma within people, in terms of their own identity, but also on a national scale, in terms of the identity of the country. This is what I wanted to investigate further, because even I, as part of the generation after the exile, who was not born in Argentina, could still feel a lot of conflict.

Michiel Schuurman graduated from the renowned graphic design department of Amsterdam’s Gerrit Rietveld Academie in 2002. As a graphic artist, he specializes in typography, pattern and poster design, embracing a fearless and bold approach.

The base of his graphic work is a certain logic – whether natural, scientific or historical. Geeky algorithms, natural phenomena or historical patterns are applied in his design process in innovative new ways. The divine mandala pattern or fungal growth can be a starting point. Schuurman takes the essence of these ‘logics’ and adds new contexts by layering, twisting and adding his signature alienating bold colour schemes. It results in visually dazzling graphics that feel completely sensible, yet include a mean dose of visual friction. “People are shocked by the extreme logic of my work”, says Schuurman.

TILBURG, NL

Fabrikaat creates colorful rugs and wall hangings made from 100% New Zealand wool.

‘Panting with wool ‘ is like my artistic signature, and translate an inmage into rugs and wall hangings has become second nature to me. I create my own designs and work in commision of other artists and designers. Quality and craftsmanship are paramount.

During my years as a skilled professional, I have worked with several designers and artists and co-created many rugs and wall hangings. Several of these works have been shown in exhibitions and galeries.

For more informations about my tufting atelier, please contact me – i would love tot tell you more.

In Let Textiles Talk, the Stedelijk combines the tapestries with works by Etel Adnan, Karel Appel, Dorothy Akpene Amenuke, Sheila Hicks, Jean Lurçat and others. These works take us on a transnational journey through history, raising questions about how the tapestries and their makers have been contextualised over the years, and proposing perspectives from which we can view the experiment today.

A group of Egyptian children, (textile) artists from all over the world and a former museum director tell their personal stories. These stories have been strung together by Amanda Pinatih into a mosaic story about textile art, creative expression, and revaluation of the collection.

ROTTERDAM, NL

Marwan Magroun is a multi-award winning Dutch-Tunisian commercial and documentary photographer and director at HALAL Amsterdam. His work focuses on redefining contemporary visual culture. Magroun strives to make it more accessible and inclusive by utilizing the art of storytelling. He considers this as a necessary addition to our collective memory in which empowering people is an important outcome. His bicultural background provides him diverse perspectives on social topics such as identity development and representation. The metropolitan context is his playground with interests submerged in street culture, music, fashion, design and urban architecture.