Fibers: Books & Other Resources

The fiber arts movement as it developed in the tumultuous 1960s and 1970s has generally been explored as if it operated outside of the historical conditions that defined these years. Scholarship has by and large focused on the still ongoing debate over whether fiber art is more appropriately aligned with art than craft. This is certainly the case regarding the scholarship on Sheila Hicks (b. 1934), one of the most celebrated fiber artists and active during the time period under consideration here.

This research explores the descriptive and metaphorical relationships between weaving and wave/particle duality through a series of woven artworks. First, it provides an explanation of the weaving process and its historic use as a metaphor for the cosmos. The pieces discussed are visual metaphors wherein the structure of the fabric becomes the content. This connection is perhaps part of a contemporary cosmological construct, replacing the sacred with science and utilizing weaving as a constant in the continuum.

Lydie Diakhaté is an independent producer and art critic specializing in the arts and cultures of Africa and the African diaspora. She is founder of K'a Yelema Productions in Paris, and co-founder and co-director of the Real Life Documentary Festival in Accra.