“Domestic Ideograms began with the intention to replicate textile motifs crafted by my bygone relatives from Transylvania, Romania. In several Transylvanian communities, the motifs that adorn domestic cloths are not the outcome of an individual intention, but are inherited from the former members of the family.”
For the Platform Graduate Award 2020 Mihaela-Elena Man presents Domestic Ideograms, an exhibition of drawing, photography, film and writing. This page is her presentation of the project, her research and artworks. Words and images by the artist.
I want to stitch or weave like my relatives did, but I don’t know how to do it.
The following material documents this process of textile craft which, having been pursued away from Romania, for more than five months, gave rise to a multitude of drawings, text and tapestry work. All these aim to unpack a practical account of domestic craftsmanship that, due to temporal, as well as spatial constraints, is currently inaccessible.
shot by C. W. Winter, Ṣieu, Maramureṣ, 28.12.2018
An ideogram is a graphic symbol that stands for an idea or a concept, and is independent of any particular language. In this way, Domestic Ideograms is a display of works looking into the character of Romanian geometric motifs, as well as a manual suited to everyone keen on understanding or undertaking the labour of crafting domestic textiles.
Expressive tools help me understand the craft I want to pursue. These tools span from placing myself in odd situations, imaginatively reframing the motifs I weave, and reflecting on the difficulties I encounter as a novice craftworker.
You too are invited to navigate Domestic Ideograms bearing these imaginative tools in mind.
Domestic Ideograms and Johanna Unzueta’s Tools for Life
A recurrent act in Johanna Unzueta’s recent solo exhibition, Tools for Life, is the use of imaginative tools to reframe processes of, predominantly, textile craft. This exhibition was on display at Modern Art Oxford from the 3rd of March until the 23rd of August 2020. You can still find a virtual iteration of Tools for Life on the gallery’s website:
Each day, from the 3rd until the 8th of November, you can find a pop-up intervention revealing less visible difficulties, revisions, and reflections embedded in the labour of domestic textile craft. You are invited to hover over Johanna’s exhibition, placed just above, and to search for the videos I insert each day.
You can also find out more about the thoughts behind these interventions in ‘On Domestic Ideograms and Tools for Life‘, which is attached in the Resources section above.