From the 7th of December, 2022, until the 10th of January, 2023, Tashkeel is holding Entwined Matter, Italian artist Paola Anziché‘s solo exhibition. Considering eco-sustainability to be of great importance in her art practice, Paola Anziché uses natural and recycled materials to create soft textile sculptures.
A crucial part of her art making is deep research of traditional craft techniques. In September, the artist came to Dubai with an aim to develop a new body of work by diving into the UAE’s history and its traditional textile crafts. She has travelled across the country to various locations to explore local architecture and archaeological finds. The places she has visited are Jumeirah Archaeological Site (Dubai); Al Jahili Fort (Al Ain); Meliha and Buhais (Sharjah); and others. Paola has also met with different communities including Emirati craft practitioners who keep the traditional weaving techniques of Telli, Sadu, and Safeefah alive.
In Telli, a braid is woven by hand and applied to fabric using a couching stitch. The technique features the metallic straw (khus) twisted or braided with silk, cotton, or synthetic threads to form floral patterns or those related to fauna.
Sadu (Al Sadu) is practised by Bedouin women to make furnishings and decorative items for camels and horses. In 2011, this style of weaving was added to the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding.
Using the Safeefah technique, one weaves palm leaves (khoos) together to produce baskets, mats, boxes, and other items. Before weaving, the leaves get dried, cleaned, and assembled. Some of them are dyed by being dipped in hot coloured water.
Paola Anziché (born in 1975, Milan, Italy) resides in Turin, Italy. She received a degree at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, Milan, Italy, and at the Städelschule, Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Meisterschülerin, Frankfurt, Germany.
Her artworks have been displayed in a lot of public and private institutions: Salvatore Ferragamo Museum, Florence (2019); Turner Contemporary in Margate, England (2017); XXI Triennale Internazionale, Milan (2016); Kichik QalArt in Yarat, Baku, Azerbaijan (2015); and others.
She has also taken part in such international residency programs as New Roots Foundation, Antigua, Guatemala (2021); Temporars at Muzeum Susch, Susch, Switzerland (2019); Kiosko Galería in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia (2017); HIAP Residency Program, Helsinki (2015); and many others.
In 2019, Paola had her monography ‘La Terra Suona/The Earth Sounds’ published by VIAINDUSTRIAE PUBLISHING.
To get more information, please visit the official web page of the exhibition.
You may also be interested in visiting “The Traps we Weave” by Shivani Aggarwal.
