Textile Art Habitation of the Mind

Artistic textile work Rooms of the Mind

The textile artistic work, Rooms of the Mind is inspired by the diversity of responses of our mind, personal and social throughout our lives. In the philosophical thought of John Locke, in the approaches of cognitive neuroscience and in my own approach to the management of experiences and emotions.

Its name evokes the construction of a set of “rooms” in which we store experiences, memories, emotions and feelings associated with each one. Every time we open one of its doors, memories, emotions and feelings catch us and provoke a personal or social response linked to each of them.

I think of the mind as a conglomerate of empty rooms that we fill with experiences, transformed into knowledge, memories, emotions and feelings, that we have developed through our consciousness, through Locke's “ideas of reflection of the senses.” There are rooms that we enter on a regular basis where we feel happy and others that we avoid entering, because the feelings are distressing and manipulate the state of rational consciousness.

The grids of the three-dimensional fabric represent these “rooms” that we fill with experiences and feelings. They are connected through nodules and elongated formations that are reminiscent of neurons, their functioning and impact on our behavior.I have left the rooms empty to invite the viewer to recreate their own “rooms” based on those memories, emotions and feelings associated with each of them.

Technique: Three-dimensional “waffle weave” fabric, handmade on a low heddle loom, adapted for this work. Fabric in extra thick 8mm felted merino wool. Mounted on a wooden frame covered with cotton fabric.

Dimensions: 100cm x 60cm x 20cm