Textiles Close Up: On Loss and Absence: Textiles of Mourning and Survival

Join the Textile Society of America this fall for an in-depth two-day exploration of grief, care, and cultural resilience through textiles. This special edition of Textiles Close Up invites participants to experience the landmark exhibition On Loss and Absence: Textiles of Mourning and Survival at the Art Institute of Chicago, alongside live performance, artist dialogue, and curator-led sessions.

This immersive two-day experience begins with a durational performance by interdisciplinary artist Nneka Kai, whose practice explores Black hair as both material and metaphor. Kai examines what constitutes a free Black feminine form through fiber, sculpture, installation, and performance. Her durational performance at AIC draws from textile sensibilities and structure, tension, and abstraction to interrogate spatial and ancestral relationships.

The program features a curator-led tour of the  On Loss and Absence: Textiles of Mourning and Survival exhibition, an exclusive artist talk with Kai and Leslie M. Wilson (AIC academic curator and director of research programs), a guided visit to SAIC’s Textile Resource Center, it also includes access to Elizabeth Catlett: A Black Revolutionary Artist and All That It Implies, and catered group lunch. With over 100 historic and contemporary works from across cultures and centuries, On Loss and Absence explores how textiles serve as vessels for memory, rituals of mourning, acts of resistance, and pathways to repair and survival.

The registration fee includes museum admission for both days (Sunday and Monday), access to Nneka Kai’s durational performance on Sunday, an exclusive curator-led visit of On Loss and Absence exhibition on Monday, a special artists talk, complimentary access to Elizabeth Catlett exhibition, and a guided visit to SAIC’s Textile Resource Center. Participants will also enjoy a catered lunch, and end of day coffee and bites with fellow attendees and AIC staff.