greater empires have fallen
inherent vice (greater empires have fallen)
2022
natural dye print pastes silkscreened on habotai silk, polyester lace
Made to go along with the themes of the RISD Museum's 2022 exhibition Inherent Vice, this pattern contrasts the wealth and violence of the Gilded age with the time we are in now, often referred to as a contemporary Gilded age due to the extreme wealth disparities and material overconsumption. It contrasts violent and modern imagery, such as guns, drug paraphernalia, and police images, with depictions of opulence and wealth. The pattern was printed on habotai silk with a hibiscus and iron print paste, and edged with polyester lace, which in hundreds of years from now will stand as an empty frame once the silk has rotted away. When marginalization and state violence are written into the fabric of a nation, dependent on genocide and slavery for its existence, it is doomed eventually to fail.
Free Palestine (greater empires have fallen)
2023
cotton jacquard woven from digital collage
As a precursor to early computers, the Jacquard loom represented a new age of modernity and industrialization, where cloth that was previously laboriously handwoven became more machine automated: an immediate, loud, industrial process that generates textiles from digital files. However, whenever “advancements” are made in capitalist, colonial systems, people, animals and the land get sacrificed as supposedly unfortunate but necessary consequences in the race forward. In what ways can a digital loom be compared to a car, or missile systems, or other tools advancing genocidal governments? Will we always be prey to industry?
Free Palestine always.