On Loss and Absence

Textiles of Mourning and Survival
A journey through the rich histories of textiles that explores their significant cultural roles, from memorializing lost loved ones to resisting oppression
 
From ancient Egyptian shrouds to medieval relics, textiles have played both functional and symbolic roles in rituals of death across time and place. Featuring funeral hangings, mourning samplers, garments, and many other textiles and fragments, along with works by contemporary textile artists such as Nick Cave (b. 1959) and Angela Hennessey (b. 1971), this book highlights how these objects help people negotiate experiences of loss, grief, healing, and survival.
 
With over seventy textiles dating from antiquity to today, On Loss and Absence brings together examples from cultures and traditions around the world. Close-up photographs provide an intimate look at the wealth of artistic and historical information embedded in their intricate details and painstaking techniques. In four key sections—Death and Grief, Transition of Realms, Care and Healing, and Resistance and Survival—artists, conservators, educators, and scholars offer their in-depth perspectives on select objects and their context. Contemporary practitioners, including the Noqanchis collective of Andean weavers and Navajo weavers Lynda Teller Pete and Barbara Teller Ornelas, provide insight into the enduring legacies of Indigenous textile arts. A behind-the-scenes look at textile conservation examines preservation techniques in the larger thematic context of care and survival.
 
Distributed for the Art Institute of Chicago
 
Exhibition Schedule:
 
Art Institute of Chicago
(September 6, 2025–March 15, 2026)

Contributor: Jen Chen-su Huang (Contributions by), Cristian Koepfli (Contributions by), Alipio Melo (Contributions by), Sarah Molina (Contributions by), Maria Jose Murillo (Contributions by), Lucinda Pelton (Contributions by), Sharbreon Plummer (Contributions by), Jenni Sorkin (Contributions by), Barbara Teller Ornelas (Contributions by), Lynda Teller Pete (Contributions by), Cybele Tom (Contributions by), Melinda Watt (Contributions by), Danitza Willka (Contributions by), Folayemi Wilson (Contributions by), Isaac Facio (Edited by), Nneka Kai (Edited by), L Vinebaum (Edited by), Anne Wilson (Edited by), Jerry Bleem (Contributions by), Valerie Cassel Oliver (Contributions by), Gustavo da Silva (Contributions by), Wafa Ghnaim (Contributions by)

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