Highlights



































Description

Kim, 2020
Green velvet sacred knot form with light pink needlelace, clear glass bead adornments and a gold thread tassel

Shown in Pancake House, MPLS
pancakehousempls/Emma-Welty-1

This series references the woven forms and colors seen in the margins of Armenian illuminated manuscripts and translates them into cloth knots. The knots contain both thick, hand-sewn velvet cords and fine cotton thread knotted into traditional Armenian needlelace. Velvet, often used as a display mechanism to raise the status of lace from u201ccraft` to u201cart,` now takes on a different role, central to the knotted structure of the forms that intersects structurally with the needlelace.

The work aims to subvert gendered materiality and the problematic and often sexualized notions of orientalism with the traditions of DIY femininity and adornment, including lace, beading and tassels.

These objects position the visual language of Armenian illuminated manuscripts, an art controlled by patriarchs, under domestic and feminine terms. Named for three of the most famous Armenian women in the diaspora who are often dismissed as vapid or materialistic, these forms consider cultural, material and economic hierarchies and the intersections of ancient and pop culture institutions.