Sample Sheets

In Sync, Curator: Zehra Begum Kisla

Noise OI_Focus Vienna,  Palais Festetics, 2024

This series of 10 woven pieces invites us to consider the fields of weaving and language together, revealing alternative possibilities. It explores the transformation and preservation of memory through a symbiotic relationship between language and weaving systems. The project focuses on the role of weaving as a socio-cultural repository of memory and the metamorphosis of language created through weaving, a practice historically shaped by women.

For centuries, weavers have employed a customized textual weaving algorithm called ‘name drafting’ to encode their personal stories and experiences onto rugs and textiles. This algorithm uses letters as threads that generate the weaving process itself. Each letter of the alphabet is encoded according to the threads that run through the shafts. These threads intertwine within the weave’s structure to form the design. The top column of the draft represents the threads running through the shafts, while the side column represents the pedals. The 'tie-up' in the top right corner of the draft is the smallest pattern unit of the weave. During this production process, an online page named “Text Draft – Weaving with Text,” a side project created by the artist and published in The Html Review, has been utilized. You can find the QR link below and try it yourself.

The project aims to archive daily or periodic concerns and experiences, as women have done throughout history by weaving, and reverse it through contemporary communication tools. This approach not only empowers new forms of storytelling, but also contributes to a larger discourse on gender equality and social justice, creating new possibilities. In line with technological advances catalyzing cultural change, the art of weaving is explored as a conduit for social change. 

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Photo Credits: Göktuğ Güntav

2024