Djenné or Tombouctou, Mali
The Art Institute of Chicago, Elizabeth M. Schultz Endowment Fund
Textiles curator Janet Purdy and conservator Isaac Facio collaborate here, as they so often do in their work, to share the stories behind a selection of textiles from Africa and Southwest Asia and the particular ways we care for them on the occasion of On Loss and Absence: Textiles of Mourning and Survival.
Join them for a thoughtful discussion of the challenges inherent in conserving such works and interpreting their meaning, their materiality, the ethics of display, and the evolving methodologies of textile research, teaching, and curation.
Examining the Talismanic Tunic, mid- to late 20th century
Janet Marion Purdy is associate curator in Textiles at the Art Institute of Chicago and a visiting lecturer in Art History at University of Chicago. Her multisited global research examines Afro-Arab-Asian visual relationships in textiles, metalwork, and architecture as artistic and cultural exchange across Africa, Southwest and Central Asia, and the Indian Ocean world.
Isaac Facio focuses on the care, preservation, and study of textiles as associate conservator at the Art Institute of Chicago and is co-curator of the current exhibition On Loss and Absence: Textiles of Mourning and Survival. Isaac is also a senior lecturer in fiber and material studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
If you have any questions about programming, please reach out to [email protected].
Closed captioning will be available for this program. For questions related to accessibility accommodations, please email [email protected].
