Woodblock prints on cotton, 400 × 145 cm, created in collaboration with Sadrie Alves.
Bluest River grew out of research carried out during an advanced master’s programme in 2021–2022, a return to more material ways of making and to the relational situations that could constitute the production of printed carpets.
The tradition of hand printing with wooden blocks dates back hundreds of years and was originally an Indian technique for printing on silk. It was used across the Levant and its neighbouring countries, but in most areas was replaced by machines. Now, through the machine, it is revived. Working with the machine, intricate symbols are drawn from the visual culture present in Iraq and laser cut into durable, usable wooden stamps. Each stamp-object recalls symbols recurrent in southern Iraqi tapestries. The stamps were used to create Bluest River, but are also meant to be shared in performances and workshops as an artistic tool for passing on knowledge of crafts and cultural heritage: talking about old technologies through new ones. Bluest River is a step further in developing ways of sharing research. Made collaboratively with Sadrie Alves.
The tradition of hand printing with wooden blocks dates back hundreds of years and was originally an Indian technique for printing on silk. It was used across the Levant and its neighbouring countries, but in most areas was replaced by machines. Now, through the machine, it is revived. Working with the machine, intricate symbols are drawn from the visual culture present in Iraq and laser cut into durable, usable wooden stamps. Each stamp-object recalls symbols recurrent in southern Iraqi tapestries. The stamps were used to create Bluest River, but are also meant to be shared in performances and workshops as an artistic tool for passing on knowledge of crafts and cultural heritage: talking about old technologies through new ones. Bluest River is a step further in developing ways of sharing research. Made collaboratively with Sadrie Alves.