Klik hier voor Nederlands
Jeanne Vrastor (1993) is driven by the question of how materials and gestures can give rise to alternative forms of knowledge. Her work draws on archaeological and anthropological research, as well as on bodily memory and mineral and botanical environments. The materials she uses for her sculptures often carry a history of their own. By connecting age-old techniques such as weaving and casting with contemporary digital processes, Vrastor explores how the movements of manual labour continue to hold meaning.
The installation The Soughers (2026) includes casts of plants traditionally used for basket weaving, such as blackberry, nettle and sweet chestnut. Vrastor harvests these plants in urban environments and combines their imprints with hand gestures to create hybrid compositions. The fibres that protrude from these figures as loose ends suggest a weaving motion that could resume at any moment, as if time had only briefly stood still.
Vrastor also works with photographs of archaeological excavations of baskets and fragments of prehistoric weavings, which she has subsequently 3D printed. As the artist explains: ‘The weaving patterns remind us of gestures performed thousands of years ago, gestures that our bodies are still able to re-enact in the here and now.’ Through her installation, Vrastor creates a poetic choreography that follows the rhythm of weaving. In doing so, she shows how gestures and materials carry time within them, emphasizing that the human body, other life forms and matter are in constant processes of mutual shaping.
Written by Kelly-ann van Steveninck