Art
Calados
Standing on Porous Rock
Water gestures
Mining for Swimming
Soft Eye of the Hurricane
Weave
Knit
Fiber Optic
Limestone Jacquard
Knitwear
Design
Haverhill, Brand Design
Anthropologie, Textile Design
Of Soiled Bodies, Curator
About
Are.na
These three pieces are made with Calado, a drawn thread lace technique native to the Canary Islands, the birthplace of my maternal grandparents. Also known as Deshilado (meaning “unsewn”) in Mexico, this process involves removing threads from a cloth stretched on a wooden frame (bastidor) and refashioning them with a variety of stitches to create intricate patterns and images. Traditionally used for home textiles such as tablecloths, curtains, and bedding, I am drawn to the inherent metaphor within its process: destruction and reconstruction. This duality mirrors my family’s journey from the Canary Islands to Venezuela, to Mexico, and to the United States, a cyclical tale of migration and the reconstruction of place through both imagination and lived experience.
The gaps and mesh of Calado embody the emptiness of certain memories while offering a space to mend, rebuild, and reimagine what has been collectively lost. By cutting, layering, and stitching into fabric, I engage in an act of repair that also contends with the forces of extraction, corruption, and the climate crisis, the very conditions that drive displacement in the first place.