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.

Artist

Hellen Ascoli

About the Artist

Hellen Ascoli was born in Guatemala City in 1984. She received her BFA in sculpture from Southern Methodist University, Dallas (2006) and her MFA in sculpture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2012). In her multidisciplinary practice, Ascoli reflects on weaving and its ability to connect the body, environment, and object together through a relational experience. She most recently had her first solo exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Center (2021). Her work has also been exhibited in numerous group exhibitions, including the Bienal de Artes Visuales del Istmo Centroamericano (2014); Bienal de Arte Paiz, Museo de Correos, Guatemala City (2014, 2018, 2020); My Body is Here, Concepción 41, Antigua, Guatemala (2016); One Stone and the Rain, Lawndale Art Center, Houston; Guatemala from 33,000 km: Contemporary Art 1960-present, Museum of Contemporary Art, Santa Barbara (both 2017); To Weave Blue: Poema al tejido, University of Memphis; and Stone’s Throw: Arte de Sanación, Arte de Resistencia, The Anderson and Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond (both 2020). Ascoli currently lives and works in Baltimore, MD.

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