April 2024
Book Smart feature in Selvedge Magazine
I am pleased to share news of a recent review of Odette Blum’s collaborative book project, Natural Abundance, in the current issue of Selvedge Magazine. Deborah Eydmann authored the piece, with photography by A. P. Notte.
As one of the twenty seven global contributors to this hand-stitched and hand-bound collective narrative, it is rewarding to see how all of the embroidered cloth pages came together under Odette’s curatorial guidance.
As a novice or self-taught stitcher, my focus or strategy was to show vulnerability with how I approached materials, as a means to encourage others to try new things and make use of resources that are readily available and simply ‘enough’ for starting any process.
To learn more about Natural Abundance and Odette’s other hand-stitched books and personal projects, visit here.
[ featured photo courtesy of Odette Blum ]
March 2024
Conversions | Site Specific Project
I will have lived on a farm property in the Shekomeko Valley for a full year as of this June, 2024. It is a place that I returned to — just over the hills from where I grew up on a farm and roamed freely as a teenager.
Shekomeko was originally a village of Mahican people, settled on abundant lands with a lifeline creek running through. The word, ‘shekomeko’ actually means ‘people of the place of eels’ in Mahikanneuw language. I have not seen an eel during the time that I have lived here, but I did learn that eels generate waves that travel the length of their bodies. To swim backwards, they reverse the direction of the wave.
As I have witnessed the seasons change and the corresponding soil and waters transmute, I have wondered about the nature of conversion and the gentle and often violent states of persuasion required to complete this act. The 1740 arrival of the Moravians in the Shekomeko Valley was essentially to set up a mission to convert the Mahican peoples to Christianity. This transformative event was not something that I first considered while driving by verdant agricultural fields and manicured horse farms or country estates during the past months.
Acknowledging the history of this place, the trauma amidst the backdrop of what appears to be such a pastoral setting has also reminded me of what it feels like to change over time, not conform to the desires or frameworks of others, and to ‘generate waves’ as an expression of self and authenticity.
Conversions | 1 March — 1 June 2024 is a site specific documentation project that explores the historic, personal, and spiritual expressions of the term:
the phenomenon of humans needing to change or convert one another or alter the land, the conversion of materials/objects from one use to another, our reversing direction at times in order to sustain or adapt.
Join me during this three month exploration of conversion findings and narratives. There will be updates via my artist website and Instagram.
February 2024
I am excited to announce news of the upcoming exhibition CARNIVALESQUE, opening on 10 February, 2024 in the new ‘Fuga Lolelor Cincu’ museum in Cincu, Transylvania. Invited artists/documentarians for this site specific installation include works by Charles Freger, Ivo Danchev, Ramin Mazur, Anca Benera & Arnold Estefán, and Pascual & Vincent, with brilliant poster designs by Sorina Vazelina.
CARNIVALESQUE is a site-specific exhibition that contextualizes the performative customs of Urzellauf Großschenk/Fuga Lolelor Cincu in Transylvania alongside similar rituals and cultural expressions in select regions of modern day Europe – all documented by award-winning photographers and richly interpreted by multimedia artists.
We live in (occupy) a mysteriously complex world in which our belief in and dependence on nature, the search for its harmony and the liberation of its fury, either individually or collectively, is ever present and noticeably urgent in society.
The wildly excessive expressions and primal states that surface during carnivalesque moments appear to be intrinsically tied to our desire to archive, decode, debate, and preserve what fascinates us about these practices and why we crave the masks that are artfully paired with such earthy, otherworldly costuming. What is it that we long for in this ritualistic freeing from the hierarchy, the open reordering of society with its prescribed roles, and the chaos that might bring us closer to nature’s cyclical rhythms, darker forces, and persistent humour?
*The curatorial text above was written by myself, after an original concept by Marlene Herberth at Kraftmade. We are grateful to local and international creative community members, who contributed their valuable time, objects, art knowledge, and work power so that this event might happen. More documentation to come.
December 2023
2023 to 2024 | studio threads
Sending end-of-year gratitude to all who invited me to participate in their creative dialogues/projects and helped to expand my own studio initiatives during 2023.
This included the writing of a photo book introduction, contributing to environmental outreach and climate awareness programming, as well as material exploration in biomimicry, cloth, fashion(ing), narrative stitching, and site specific documentation.
2024 promises to continue with these collaborative threads as well as a focus on print publications and cultural preservation projects in the U.S. and Europe.
A special thank you to the following individuals or organizations for helping me to grow and cultivate new directions this past year:
Donna @ Tender Flower
Marlene @ Kraftmade
Laurel @ Sienna Road
Suzanne @ Diving Deep Coaching
November 2023
A preliminary announcement – I am pleased to share that the first proof for my photography book project, Terrain A.D. (working title), has been completed.
This project is a culmination of documentation from Walking Libraries (2016-2022), interspersed with select photos of terrain in remote regions and communities. The book will be hard-bound and printed in editions of 50.
I was inspired to do this project after thinking more about this quote from curator and art critic, David Revés: ‘Doan’s work can be conceived as a general archive of the Earth. The work alerts us to the need to create new future ecologies’.
After an early start as a researcher for documentary film and then digital media history projects, I had always taken photos as a way to delve further into my visual process, specifically when thinking about personal interactions with terrain. For Terrain A.D., I have focused on the layout juxtapositions between photos as evidence of environmental resilience as well as material sensitivity.
More to come in 2024.
October 2023
Fashion(ing) A.D., a project that I have been working on for some time, is finally inching closer to its official launch date.
This studio initiative explores how fashion(ing) might shift us away from a focus on making per se, to envisioning how we might broaden future actions and views. That is, why contemporary fashion needs to be framed as a critical practice that allows for greater consideration of shifting states in the atmosphere/environment, as well as facilitating intersectional awareness beyond the historic pre-occupation with cloth (materiality) as fashion’s underpinning.
Since presenting the genesis of these ideas in settings like the Fashion Institute of Technology, Parsons School of Design, Pratt Institute, and the California College of the Arts as well as via design/textile journalism and global art venues, the current climate crisis necessitates that I venture further to explore why fashion is as much about fashion(ing) self in relation to the environment as it is about generating form.
The project is meant to dovetail with other studio projects but with an emphasis on documentation, fashioned objects as tools, as well as research and writing.
September 2023
I am pleased to announce my participation in the cloth bound, stitched book project, Natural Abundance, created by Dutch designer, Odette Blum, along with invited artists from around the world.
An excerpt from Odette’s statement:
“This book tells the personal stories of each creator in their experience of nature’s abundance. The hand binding was done by me, as well as the stitching of the cover (and) the introduction page … Telling and sharing our unique personal stories, allows us to be truly ourselves and reminds us of who we are and where we have come from.” – O.B.
A sampling of stitched work by all contributors is viewable on Odette’s website as well as via @_stitch_me_a_story_.
Proceeds from Natural Abundance will go to the reforestation non-profit and outreach initiative, Tree Sisters.
[ image credit: Odette Blum | AP Notte ]
August 2023
This summer I furthered my studio research via two principal chapters.
The first chapter involved coursework with Learn Biomimicry, an online program that explores the basic principles, systems, and possible natured-based solutions that biomimicry might inspire.
The second was an intensive look at the value systems (cultural and natural) that are integral to sustainable fashion initiatives. These courses were with the Centre for Sustainable Fashion at London College of Fashion.
I am now synthesizing materials from both programs, as a reboot/update to cultural/environmental projects initiated with fashion(ing) A.D.
July 2023
I am honored to share that I recently joined the Gallery Climate Coalition - GCC in both the U.S. and Europe.
This summer I will be working towards active membership status for my studio practice as well as travel-related initiatives in parallel with GCC’s targets.
Other goals include working towards keeping our fields open and planted/rotated seasonally at stalla AD, in conjunction with our local co-op in Italy. We aim to provide open space and habitat for regional species. This is also a measure to help reduce drought conditions annually in an increasingly arid zone in Tuscany. Current research includes solutions for resilient landscaping and permaculture systems thinking.
June 2023
Excited to announce the Anamnesis book launch and presentation with artist/author, Nazanin Sadr Azodi.
Perrotin Gallery Store New York | Thursday, June 15 from 6:00 to 8:00pm
Author: Nazanin Sadr Azodi
Linen-bound hardcover, 81 pages
24.1 x 18.4 cm | 9.5 x 7.25 in
Introduction by Abigail Doan
About the project:
Anamnesis, a project created by Nazanin Sadr Azodi, is a shared narrative experience exploring the importance of memories and identity through the tradition of weaving. A collaboration with four Iranian tribal women, in a show of rugs, using the power of recollection and the art of weaving to tell their personal stories. The Anamnesis book chronicles the journey of finding rare artisans, each living and working in remote regions in Iran. It tells the intimate, and sometimes heartbreaking, memories that each woman masterfully wove into their piece.
May 2023
Release of the Earthkeepers Handbook, ecoartspace press.
I am excited to announce that Earthkeepers Handbook: Heal the Man, Heal the Land will be available in print as of June 2023.
This 220 page handbook is a compilation of over 100 recipes, remedies, and writings (including manifestos and how-to directions), presented by ecoartspace members.
My ‘Walking Libraries: recipe + remedy notes’ are included in this edition. Instructional concepts include: drifting as a form of mapping or plotting; exploring systems for restorative action; movement practice in relation to psycho-geography, and weaving as a metaphor for resiliency.
Learn more about Walking Libraries here.
February 2023
Release of Anamnesis, published by Konnotation Press.
I am honored to have been invited to write the three page introduction for this timely publication. My early background as a researcher for documentary film and more recent cultural preservation projects related to women working with fiber/textiles as an expression of empowerment and heritage keeping helped me to craft this overview.
“Anamnesis, a project created by Nazanin Sadr Azodi, is a shared narrative experience exploring the importance of memories and identity through the tradition of weaving. A collaboration with four Iranian tribal women, in a show of rugs, using the power of recollection and the art of weaving to tell their personal stories. The Anamnesis book chronicles the journey of finding the rare artisans, each living and working in remote regions in Iran. It tells the intimate, and sometimes heartbreaking, memories that each woman masterfully wove into their piece."
September 2022
Studio feature in Hyperallergic’s ‘A View from the Easel’
“My workspace is an open plan of sorts where I can build and re-assemble forms as well as integrate views beyond my studio’s windows. Although I also work in NYC and Europe, I set up this workspace (before the pandemic) as it was adjacent to a lake where I had childhood memories. I spent many days during COVID lockdown exploring ideas related to floating and transport via woven, raft-like vessels, crafted while sheltering in place. I typically fabricate forms on a large tabletop surface and then document the vessels on the lake’s surface or on its shores. This process allows me to think about movements and changes we are all witnessing from the anchor point of an interior sanctuary.” – A.D.
May 2022
Walking Libraries featured in Incantatio Mundi at Romanian Creative Week
“Incantatio Mundi is an exhibition about the contemporary reset of art, design, craft and architecture. We open up a dialogue of what futures we would like to create.
We search for artists, who in their processes blend in dreaming, ritualic and intuitive practices that lay the base of the emotions and experiences of the future.”
Curators, Kraftmade
