The Shadows Assembly with Hana Miletić

Final presentation
Saturday 23 November
14:00 - 16:00 
Everyone is welcome! 

The Shadows Assembly was formed at the start of 2019, involving 3 textile ateliers in Amsterdam Nieuw-West: De Draad, Ru Paré Community, Het Anker and the artist Hana Miletić. The name references to the hidden, unvalued labour of domestic workers and a political decision making body. This group came together for the first time at De Appel, located in the same neighbourhood amidst the 3 ateliers. During workshops facilitated by Miletić, a trained photographer, the groups learned a new technique: how to make sun prints on fabric. They contact-printed daily household and handwork-related objects on leftover and discarded fabrics from their individual ateliers. Next we assembled these -both literal and metaphorical- shadow images into one big textile piece in the form of a curtain. During the patchwork assembling of the curtain the groups exchanged their knowledge and skills of different stitching techniques. This work ultimately aims to challenge relationships between working, thinking and feeling.

The shadows assembly explores the potential of various textile practices in contemporary art, and looks at the role it plays in different communities. What can we learn from each other through fabrics? Focusing on the potential for social bonds in textile traditions, The Shadows Assembly, wants to bring craftsmanship and heritage together in order to create new stories, connections and (potential) communities.

This project is in collaboration with Textielatelier De Draad, Ru Paré Community and Huis van de Wijk Het Anker. 

Hana Miletić is a keen observer of the social realities that often go unnoticed in public space. She
explores the city and its communities marked by transformation, often focusing on conditions of neglect.
Her approach reveals the parallels between what we pay attention to and our perception of value. Miletić’s
background in documentary photography serves as a means of orientation to create textile works in her
studio, and to facilitate collaborative programs in community workshops.
Four years ago, she became active in community weaving workshops in Brussels, reconnecting with a craft
from her childhood in Yugoslavia. Textiles have been passed down through generations of women in her
family. The artist sees weaving — which requires considerable time and dedication — as a metaphorical
process that allows her to reflect on certain social and cultural conditions. She calls this a practice of
“care and repair,” through which she aims to re-evaluate the relationships between working, thinking and
feeling.

Hana Miletić, born in 1982 in present-day Croatia, lives and works in Brussels. In 2014-2015, she was a resident at Van Eyck in Maastricht, and in 2015, she was awarded the BOZAR Prize in the framework of The Young Belgian Art Prize. In 2016, she participated in Festival Indiscipline at Palais de Tokyo, Paris, and in 2017, she took part in the 13th Sharjah Biennial. Last year WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels presented her first big institutional solo exhibition. She recently took part in group-exhibitions at the contemporary art museum S.M.A.K., Ghent (2018-19); Metro Pictures, New York (2019)and TextielMuseum, Tilburg (2018-19). Currently, next to the community project for De Appel, Amsterdam, she is preparing a solo exhibition at La Maison de Rendez-Vous, Brussels. Later this year Miletić will go on residency at Thread in Senegal, the cultural center of the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation.

The Shadows Assembly is part of the education programme of De Appel. During the Summer and Autumn of 2019, our education programme will explore the potential of working with textile in different communities in Amsterdam Nieuw-West through various contemporary art practices. What role can textile work play in different kinds of communities? What can we eventually learn from each other through (working with) textile? With a focus on the social aspects of textile work we aim to bring craftsmanship and heritage together to create new stories, new connections and new (potential) communities.

Notes from the artist
( The Shadows Assembly )

See also
( Ensemble of Memories )
( Ensemble of Skills )
( Ensemble of Movements )
( De Appel Education )