Sobre el trabajo de mi amiga Ana María:
As a heavy blanket at your grandmother's
home, the sand-filled fabric covers and protects the body in a twist. Much like
a story, "Counterweight" needs actors too. It might be appropriate to
remember how the word used for "pattern" in Swedish, more specifically “rekursion”, is
also used as a way to refer to "narrative" or "story". The
reference, like a theatrical plot, suggests a link between how our own gestures
change in the interaction with another; in this case, how the behavior of the
fabric is affected by motion and how the weight of the fabric determines how
the body can move and sustain itself. The qualities of textiles and each
fabric are not just to be seen, since most of them go unnoticed without a near
interaction. Here we are reminded that textiles should be understood as less of
visual treats, and more as tactile objects that relate to the body, and that may
or may not hold its pulsations.
Sand-filled patterns repeat themselves much
like fingerprints on the bodies of those who wear them, but never in the same
way. Therefore, Counterweight is where shapes come to be reshaped. Where
folded cloths come to be unfolded, and then folded again with a new result.
Where a fabric can only become a chair and take a body's weight with the right
kind of interaction. It all comes down to the tension that can only be
created through the dialogue with another object. Brought under the same logic
of something being more than the sum of its parts, these patterns and fabrics
are not just mere surfaces, but a cast of characters that when given the chance
to be brought into play and interaction with a third, win new qualities with
some levels of self-awareness. From the materials to the geometric
patterns that balance gravity, repetition differentiates itself depending on
the potentials of each figure that animates it.
Like waves behind a motorboat, if the fabric
was to be light, these shapes heavily resonate with the body, and weight
becomes a tangible way to express that information is physical. To embrace it
as a tactile potential means to empower the body and animate the qualities of
each fabric, since it is true that there is always a chance of seeing
while staying undiscovered, but it is impossible to touch and stay untouched.
