Alana Cotwright
BU/ILT, 2020
Digital Inkjet print
16 x 20 inches
As an artist, it has been a challenge to find a sense of place. In the past months, I’ve ventured into textile work and upholstering. Through this project, I sought to blend both photography and tactile elements (as a culmination of sorts). The inspiration behind my textile exploration has been East African tribal fabrics and their origins. Although popularized by the region, they were imported as a product of colonization. By placing these East African fabrics on Eurocentric designs, the furniture serves as a manifestation and juxtaposition of this history and alien elements colliding birthing subculture. While working with East African fabric, specifically from Mali and Senegal, I learned a term in French class. The material was called “le wax.” The label was European, and would’ve been my last guess at its name. The name’s prominence is a remnant of the colonization of East Africa. The textile they (East Africans) wear with pride has an origin outside of themselves. Therein came my thought process behind my newfound medium. The collision of two continents. A new found ownership for a foreign art form, repurposing.
