On Loss and Absence

Name: On Loss and Absence
Brand: Unknown
SKU: 9780300284089
Price: 71.99 NZD
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Textiles of Mourning and Survival

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Brief Description

A journey through the rich histories of textiles that explores their significant cultural roles, from memorialising 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... Read More

Format: Hardback

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Description

A journey through the rich histories of textiles that explores their significant cultural roles, from memorialising 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 2025–April 2026)

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780300284089

Publisher: Art Institute of Chicago

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 23 September 2025

Country: United States

Imprint: Art Institute of Chicago

Illustration: 156 color + 14 b-w illus.

Contributors:

Contributions by Valerie Cassel Oliver
Edited by Anne Wilson
Contributions by Valerie Cassel Oliver
Contributions by Jen Chen-su Huang
Contributions by Wafa Ghnaim
Contributions by Jerry Bleem
Edited by Isaac Facio
Contributions by Cristian Koepfli
Edited by L Vinebaum
Edited by Nneka Kai
Contributions by Gustavo da Silva

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 229.0mm

Height: 267.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 224

Collections

Arts & Culture Education & Reference Grief & Loss Non-Fiction

About the Author

Isaac Facio is associate conservator in Conservation and Science at the Art Institute of Chicago. Nneka Kai is an interdisciplinary artist based in Atlanta, GA. L Vinebaum is associate professor of fiber and material studies and affiliated full-time faculty in the Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Anne Wilson is an artist and professor emeritus in fiber and material studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.