Textiles have been a fundamental part of human life since the beginning of civilization. They are living traditions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants as knowledge and skills to produce crafts and preserve our culture.

Often times the heritage of textiles are preserved in museums as costumes which limits textile understanding to the production of clothing.  In actuality textiles have an embedded association with social, political and utilitarian history.

An exhibition by Sebastien Courty, a French textile artist based in NY, explores this connection through textile totems that embody six different countries, their natural and manufactured resources. The materials exported enables the visitor to dive in each country’s culture and learn more about their social and economical life.

Visitors may easily associate textiles to its cultural identity. This is because textile traditions move across and between continents and peoples; it is a shared activity; a language of materiality, connecting people even from different cultures.

The purpose of Sebastien Courty’s work is in principle, a decorative art approach. He aspires to move the viewers by creating an emotion – a feeling of connection through his designs.

Each totem is handmade, wavered by Courty himself in his atelier. He picked countries based on the materials they export most, as an opportunity to draft a singular identity through natural resources and commercial success.

The six countries are Peru, Ivory Cost, Tanzania, India, China and New-Zealand. Each weaving – framed in an elegant wooden box – features natural and manufactured materials. Silk, cotton, gold thread, rubber, corn fibre, copper yarns, beads and other precious stones will underlap in meaningful patterns.

Not limited to fibers, his work encompass any material that will allow hand stitching methods in a very contemporary approach. Each visitor will see different patterns and meanings to the panels showcased by him.

The exhibition is on show in Hyeres, France through July 24th.

Textile Art Exhibition by Sebastien Courty
Gallery LM STUDIO
“TOTEM”
Weaving is talking
5 Bis rue Portalet, 83400 Hyeres