:: salt mark :: open studio :: qr.2.vv :: picando portales :: hilvanando terruño :: stitching unearthed moments into place ::

Abstract

A virtual open studio, :: qr.2.vv ::: picando portales ::: hilvanando terruño :: presents a multi-faceted approach to marking moments of unexpected connection, of pinning down glimpses of unanticipated affinity that arise in the midst of daily interaction, often when attention is focused elsewhere. In Puerto Rico, the saying ¡oye, hay que hilvanar eso! draws from multi-generational sewing traditions, and a formerly thriving textile export industry, to acknowledge an idea or point that pops up in conversation which needs noting… deserves its own thread… exhibits some kind of urgency or crucial underpinnings, some mutually-recognized need to revisit a place in time, literally to pick up this thread, that astounding glance, this jarring moment of realization, in the future. While the verb hilvanar generally refers to creating a loose, preliminary basting stitch with thread and needle, implying an intention to return and create a finished seam, the term also describes an act, in writing and speaking, of deliberate linking, of piecing together words and concepts. Using both these meanings, :: qr.2.vv :: stitching unearthed moments into place :: locates a space for the creation of machine-stitched fabric pieces along with quick response (QR) codes to mark ongoing investigative dialogues. Inspired by uncanny threads emerging from the artist’s lived experience, vivid dreamscapes, and previous performance work, this open studio (both in-person and virtual presentations), delves into archival cartographic research and contemporary mapping of intangible cultural heritage to link ephemeral elements and ritual gestures found in traditional knowledge systems throughout Indian Ocean and Black Atlantic diasporas. Making space for speculative meanderings to percolate and connect with sources beyond institutional inscription, the work offers alternate methods for being a visual scribe, for existing in a global moment whose contours for grounding have shifted. It explores potential for reframing elements that could populate a visual or gestural body of knowledge, in the same way a network analysis or data visualization techniques offer ways to discover previously overlooked, perhaps subtly erased, relationships among names or numerals.