Curatorial Roundtable: "On Loss and Absence: Textiles of Mourning and Survival”

Location: Fullerton Hall at the Art Institute of Chicago (located on the left after you go through security on Michigan Avenue entrance)

On Loss and Absence: Textiles of Mourning and Survival is curated by four artists—Isaac Facio, Nneka Kai, L Vinebaum, and Anne Wilson—whose paths merged at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Fiber and Material Studies Department. The exhibition is deeply informed by their practices as makers and their respect for fellow artists as holders of material, ancestral, and cultural knowledge. The curators will discuss their processes in creating this exhibition. Drawn primarily from the Art Institute of Chicago’s collection, the exhibition brings together over 100 objects from diverse cultures dating from antiquity to today to reveal the ways people use textiles to sustain spiritual beliefs, understand death, cope with grief, remember those who have passed, and heal from trauma, both personally and collectively. Included are burial shrouds, funerary hangings, mourning and mending samplers, fragments, garments marking power and endurance of cultural identities, and artworks by contemporary artists.

On Loss and Absence: Textiles of Mourning and Survival is on view at the Art Institute of Chicago from September 6, 2025 - March 15, 2026.

This event is made possible by the William Bronson and Grayce Slovet Mitchell Lectureship in Fiber and Material Studies. Free and open to the public.

Persons with disabilities requesting accommodations should visit saic.edu/access.