Corner talk (AlWataniya), 2020
Installation, textile, embroidery photographs, block and screen prints.
Various dimensions.
Artwork created part of ASCC Air Program 2020
The two tapestries document TAC's (The Architects Collaborative) Souk AlWataniya built in Kuwait City during the 1970s. Collages of textiles, block prints, and silk screen prints depict distinctive motifs of the building’s architecture while also using archival photos to document the original state of the building. Cross stitching is used as a form of eraser, physically crossing out the removed architectural elements. As many structures were built during the rapid modernisation of Kuwait City, the souks of Corner Talk and Promise Wall can be seen as a documentation of the constant cycle of reinvention, a by-product of ‘erasure’ introduced by the haphazard approach to renovation of modern structures in the city.
To learn more about the research conducted during the residency click here
Photos by Mohamad Chehimi