Body of Relation

Textile and non-textile assemblages, archive boxes and diaries, embroidery hoops, nylon stockings, selvedges, found and archival material. 

The work explores the exercise of power across generations, and what is kept hidden within family systems yet continues to manifest itself in bodies, relationships and materials.

Embroidery hoops, wrapped diaries, archive boxes, everyday objects and textiles coalesce into constellations of violence and vulnerability, closeness and distance, protection and control. The works oscillate between portrait, archive and genealogical structure. The arrangement of the embroidery hoops alludes to family trees and familial hierarchies. It traces relationships and identifies kinship as something physical, formative and not a matter of free choice.

The wrapped diaries and archive boxes represent what is concealed and omitted. What is inscribed when it is forbidden to speak: belonging, silence, abuse.

Photos by Katharina Acht