Solo presentation at Art Brussels 2023 Discovery section with Kogo Gallery. Curated by Šelda Puķīte.
“Starting her artistic career as a painter, Põld shifted early on towards work that was more site specific, also incorporating clay, which became her second major after painting. During the pandemic lockdown, she started to look for creative pastimes without studio requirements and became interested in the tufting technique, which by that time had become a popular DIY pass time popularized in social media channels. Since then she has been focusing on textile works while also incorporating her painting and sculpting skills. Just like with her clay works, it has also been important for her to study the history of textiles and fibre art in general and to use this knowledge when starting new projects.
Works for the Discovery section can be viewed as a homage to the impressively long history of weaving dating back to the year 19,000 BC. Scientists are discovering new evidence of the use of fibre that dates back even to 35,000 BC. The great influence of textile came in the Ice Age, when not only landscapes changed but also humans who adapted to much colder weather. They invented bone needles, made warmer clothes that were more fitting, and moved out of Africa towards cooler climate zones like the artist’s motherland Estonia. In Estonia, an important footprint of the once grand glacial movement is the varieties of stones. They have also become an important motif in Põld’s textile works, just like earth and its underground substances is part of her clay sculptures. In the context of the post-pandemic period, the threat of nuclear war and the energy crisis, diving into the world of fibres and threads seems a somewhat slower and timeless topic. It brings back an awareness of the basic skills of weaving as valuable knowledge that can be used to provide for ourselves, instead of feeding the gargantuan industries of fast fashion that are polluting the planet and devastating the lives of so many.” – Šelda Puķīte
Performance by Sigrid Savi
Photos by Albert Kerstna and Lucie Deluz
