From Shame To Shelter
Year: 2023 Dimensions: H245x W95 x D95 cm

From Shame To Shelter

Carelessly abandoned plastic and textile is increasingly found in bird nests, even in pure nature. In a twist of irony, the birds’ use of manmade synthetic materials as construction media results in long-lasting homes. For example the nests of Eurasian coots in the canals of Amsterdam. In “from Shame To Shelter” Femke uses many discarded synthetic textiles in the age old craft of weaving. In this striking replacement of nature with our artificial creations, and handweaving as a technique, she provokes the question of who is the crafts(wo)man here? In response, by creating a ‘nest’ made of leftover textiles, Femke offers a way from ‘Shame to Shelter’ – a safe space to retreat and contemplate the place of humans in this new world. And to rethink waste in general as a construction material for human needs. By weaving, one of the oldest crafts mankind has used, and probably copied, thousands of years ago, from watching birds weaving their nests.