/ colors of the city, 2021

funded by Kunststiftung Sachsen Anhalt und Kloster Bergesche Stiftung

honored with BKV Prize 2021

Plant dyeing on silk and wool, 50 sheets of textiles á 37 x 50 cm

Silk, virgin wool, lilac blossoms, maple leaves, maple bark, dandelion, spurge, hyacinth, celandine, mountain smoke, ivy, ferrous sulfate 

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This work follows the rich history of the cultural heritage of natural dying in the field of textiles. For centuries we cultivated the craft of dyeing, the knowledge of plant raw materials and their color extraction. But due to the synthesization and cataloging of dyes, the natural raw materials are playing a minor role in the textile industry.

Almost hidden, the extraction of the color for our everyday textiles takes place in laboratories or factories far from our hometowns. 

The dyeing craft represents a deep knowledge and precision in the use of resources, which in the end becomes visible in the purity of the color.

 

"Colors of the city" contains a textile color map, whose color extraction consists of the pure plant world, which surrounded me on my everyday paths in my student city Halle an der Saale. The color world of the parks, avenues, city meadows, bus stations, parking slots and supermarket

islands becomes visible and tangible in the textile implementation. 

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The dyed textiles symbolize the moment and the power of its seemingly simple and yet so pure resource. 

 

The cityscape now shines in its color, which is hidden from most city dwellers, and an impulse arises to perceive our urban space independent of existing economic and traffic systems. 

It is my intention to show us as viewers again the pure power of the natural resource and to approach our possibilities in the urban space with new eyes. Likewise, to trigger an attitude of reverence, humility and respect through the power of color becoming visible and the expression of its resource. The eye is opened.

This principle is representative of any urban space and place of life.

An ode to the craft of dyeing, the extraction of color as a professional craft, presenting the inner glow of the pure world of color.