Alexandra Kehayoglou (born 1982) is an Argentine

textile artist Textile arts are arts and crafts that use plant, animal, or synthetic fibers to construct practical or decorative objects. Textiles have been a fundamental part of human life since the beginning of civilization. The methods and materials use ...

. She is best known for her large-scale carpets and tapestries reflecting natural landscapes, works which address the topic of climate change. She won the

Konex Award Konex Foundation Awards, or simply Konex Awards, are cultural awards from the Konex Foundation honouring Argentine cultural personalities. History and purpose Konex Awards are granted by the Konex Foundation, created in 1980 in Argentina. The p ...

from Argentina in 2022.

Biography

Kehayoglou was born in 1982 in Buenos Aires, Argentina to a family of carpet-makers. Her grandparents immigrated from

Isparta Isparta is a city in western Turkey. It is the seat of Isparta Province and Isparta District.İl ...

(present-day

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

) in the 1920s, bringing with them their practice of making Ottoman-style rugs. Her grandmother founded a carpet-making company, El Espartano. Kehayoglou went on to incorporate the family tradition of carpet-making into her own artistic practice. She grew up in a house in Argentina surrounded by a garden, a forest, a farm, and a river, which influenced her artistic interest in nature and the Argentine landscape. She currently lives and works in Athens .

Meaning and origins of her work

Her technique relies heavily on the hand-

tufting Tufting is a type of textile manufacturing in which a thread is inserted on a primary base. It is an ancient technique for making warm clothing, garments, especially mittens. After the knitting is done, short U-shaped loops of extra yarn are intr ...

system, a laborious type of textile weaving used in carpet-making. The subject matter links her with her families traditions, specifically her grandmother. She uses recycled scrap yarn from her families factory to create her work. Her subject matter is the Argentine landscape that she calls home. She often travels to new locations to research and study the landscapes she depicts. Her work represents places which have been impacted by

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

or damaged by human activity. Her work has become known for its call for environmental preservation and awareness.

Works

For

Paris Fashion Week Paris Fashion Week (, commonly ) is a series of designer presentations held semi-annually in Paris, France, with spring/summer and autumn/winter events held each year. Dates are determined by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode. Pa ...

in 2015, Dries van Noten ordered a tufted rug from Kehayoglou for a catwalk that covered the entire stage. The carpet consisted of four parts and totaled 144 square meters. It was completed by three 10-member teams in 16 days. The carpet is an abstraction of the Argentine landscape where she lives. Her 2016 work ''No Longer Creek'' documents the Raggio Creek, a creek north of Buenos Aires where she used to go running, whose banks have been damaged by human activity. Her work represents what the creek used to look like to reflect the greenery and landscape that has been lost. It calls the viewer to experience this environment that no longer exists and reconnect with lost nature. In 2017 she completed ''Santa Cruz River,'' titled after the Santa Cruz River in Argentina, for the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited art mu ...

Triennial. The river was the proposed site of two major hydroelectric dams. Her 2018 series titled ''Prayer Rugs'' addresses the landscapes of the Parana Delta Wetlands, which has been damaged by deforestation, hunting, the introduction of foreign species of fauna, and both domestic and industrial pollution. Her work documents the "micro-narratives" of the surviving plants and wildlife in this region.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kehayoglou, Alexandra 1981 births Living people 21st-century women textile artists 21st-century textile artists Artists from Buenos Aires 21st-century Argentine women artists Argentine people of Turkish descent