Elena-Catalina Toltica

︎ @elenacatalinaphotography

︎ www.elenacatalinaphotography.co.uk

︎ up894960@myport.ac.uk

Ţesut is a project exploring the intricate embellishments within traditional Romanian handmade textiles. This idea further developed from my desire to hold onto the lifestyle, memories and heritage associated with my homeland. Documented through close-ups, archival images and self-portrait, Ţesut aims to portray traditions, rituals, and artifacts handed down by previous generations, as well as who I am as a Romanian woman.

Throughout my childhood I have been surrounded by women spending hours upon hours designing handmade garments and home décor in order to keep the tradition alive. The motifs switch from both South and North Romania, as I had family from both sides of the country.

Textiles are very much like photographs; they record a trace as an index. It not only acts as an object, but as a mechanism of remembering national history, thus narrating personal identity.

This project also seeks to explore the importance of ‘diasporic’ objects that signify the ambivalent nature of migrants’ relationships with their past and present homes. Simultaneously acting as symbols of identity, connection, detachment, accumulated new values and biographies, embedded in wider cultural contexts.

By blowing up the cloth close-ups, the focus is placed on the complex patterns, encouraging the viewer to further engage with those.  Reinforcing the female lineage within the sequence, the self-portrait overlooks from the centre, alongside archival images forming a bridge between the ‘now’ and ‘then’. There is also a sense that the fabric not only connects the past with the future, but also develops a life that is precious in itself.