Abstract
Weaving is a binary approach to being, in which a perpendicular entanglement of threads allows for cloth to exist. For millennia, the primacy of threads has shaped the making of woven textiles. However, a seemingly inherent element has been overlooked: negative spaces. In this reflection, such places relate to ‘holes’ or the empty spaces adjoining warp and weft. Drawing on textile theory, language, mathematics and the question of emergence, the paper critically explores the ways in which weavers understand weave structure construction. Seen as an absence, a ‘not-something’ as opposed to a ‘nothing’, how can we capture the woven hole? And in so doing, what is our intention? Interrogating our comprehension of the negative space in and of weaving, the paper juxtaposes concept and technique to further the craft’s essence and potentially develop a new textile language.
Keywords
hole; whole; weaving; absence
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/TI-2023/119
Citation
Fourquier, A.(2023) W(hole), matter and its absence in woven textiles, in Tincuta Heinzel, Delia Dumitrescu, Oscar Tomico, Sara Robertson (eds.), Proceedings of Textile Intersections Conference 2023, 20 - 23 September, London, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/TI-2023/119
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Critical textiles
Included in
W(hole), matter and its absence in woven textiles
Weaving is a binary approach to being, in which a perpendicular entanglement of threads allows for cloth to exist. For millennia, the primacy of threads has shaped the making of woven textiles. However, a seemingly inherent element has been overlooked: negative spaces. In this reflection, such places relate to ‘holes’ or the empty spaces adjoining warp and weft. Drawing on textile theory, language, mathematics and the question of emergence, the paper critically explores the ways in which weavers understand weave structure construction. Seen as an absence, a ‘not-something’ as opposed to a ‘nothing’, how can we capture the woven hole? And in so doing, what is our intention? Interrogating our comprehension of the negative space in and of weaving, the paper juxtaposes concept and technique to further the craft’s essence and potentially develop a new textile language.