Hellen Ascoli

Hellen Ascoli’s multi-disciplinary approach to art making derives from an active engagement with weaving, movement, listening, and writing to explore the inherently political relationship between body, object, and environment. Working primarily with the back-strap loom—a tool that attaches to the body of its user and to the space in which they are working—Ascoli generates ideas and experiences that are rooted in place, and are therefore contextual and relational. For her first solo museum exhibition, Ascoli presents several new works including a large-scale textile installation in the CAC’s lobby, a site-responsive kinetic wall sculpture, text-based weavings, videos displayed in custom-built furniture, photographs, and sound works. The exhibition’s title, Cien Tierras, which is shared by two bodies of work included therein, is derived from a Spanish expression meaning “one hundred earths”—though tierra can also signify “land,” “ground,” and “world.” Thus “cien tierras” refers to the multiplicities that underpin the practice of weaving and connect it to other forms of recorded knowledge.

Hellen Ascoli: Cien Tierras is supported by the Kaplan Lobby Fund. Additional support is provided by the generous contributors to the CAC Exhibition Fund.