MANIFESTO ON COLLECTIVE WEAVING
Participatory art describes a form of art that directly engages the audience in the creative process so that they become participants in the event. My participatory art practice celebrates the connective power of collective weaving by inviting people to actively join my weaving processes. In an age defined by screens and mass production, I wish to remind people of the beauty of the handmade and the deep satisfaction in making and co-creating. Weaving together is an enduring and repetitive process that fosters connection, reflection, and a deeper awareness of touch. It invites us to slow down while being fully present. While our hands engage with threads, the shared act of weaving provides space for attentive listening and authentic exchange, with many participants tapping into their memories and connecting their own personal stories to this craft. As conversations flow new connections unfold and threads intertwine, a new collective weave takes shape.
This practice choses a shared process over result slows us down,
as an act of resistance against capitalist speed,
while creating living maps of places that include people, voices, tools, materials, teacups, memories and many shared stories.
May/June 2024, Amsterdam. This collective weave was created in three days on request of two festivals in Amsterdam New-West: Stille Wateren & Knits and Now. During the first —with Van Eesteren Museum and Natuurkamer as locations— I primarily worked with children. On the final day at Knits & Now, I wove from noon until dark with many craft enthusiasts. The weave of 150 x 150cm is made from remains of the Dutch textile industry. When the work isn't exhibited, it hangs in the Natuurkamer.
Photography: Ruben den Harder
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The last day of weaving was part of the 'Vergroeningsfestival' at Lambertus Zijlplein where I primarily worked with children. The work is made from strips of old clothes, donated by Pleinkamers' swap-shop, where it hangs now.
May-june 2022, Amsterdam. Weaving two days with visitors from the Plein 40-45 market and the additional Maydan Festival: the piece captures countless imprints of mothers and their children, alongside supportive comments from my market neighbors as they sold their vegetables.
2022, Amstelveen - During the exhibition ‘Het Andere Verhaal’ (The Other Story) about Moroccan Modernism in the Cobra museum, I installed a large collective loom on which visitors knotted a carpet together with naturally dyed Moroccan wool and leftover scraps of fabric. The piece is 3 meters wide and 1.5 meters long and made by 156 people, including not only the visitors of the exhibition, but also employees and volunteers of the Cobra Museum.
Research & color preparations
art residency in Iceland, 2017
Carpet # 1
Amsterdam, Netherlands
December 2017 - May 2018
Co-created with visitors of Green Living Lab, H401, Ubuntu festival, OKO Cultural Melting Point, Tante Ali , De Dobbekamer,
Cafe de Ceuvel, Dagbesteding de Draad
How to Weave Together
In a Amazigh community in Morocco I observed with fascination how powerful the act of weaving together is. It inspired me to invite people in Netherlands to join this process of weaving a carpet in unison. Consequently, I went back to Morocco to do the same there. Two collectively made carpets resulted from this joint venture. Each carpet carries many dialogues, between cultures and people, that took place around - and within - the weaving. Instead of designing a pattern, I created possibilities for my co-weavers to play. In a sense, out of each piece a new language arose by us responding to each other’s work.
Graduation Show
Gerrit Rietveld Academy 2018
Carpet # 2
Amehklij, Morocco - March 2018
co-created with Amazigh weavers
Could weaving be considered a form of documentation and if so, what distinguishes it from the photograph or sound recording?
I see these carpets as material maps that reveal the flexible social network that created them: every person, tool, plant and place is represented in its own respective way. During the process of making, many intimate conversations took place, which prove to me that the act of weaving together facilitated something important and human. Perhaps, the outcomes (whether you call them carpets, maps or dialogues) are just beautiful examples of how to live together.