On Loss and Absence: Textiles of Mourning and Survival (Hardback or Cased Book)

Facio, Isaac

ISBN 10: 030028408X / ISBN 13: 9780300284089

Published by Art Institute of Chicago 11/11/2025, 2025

About this Item

On Loss and Absence: Textiles of Mourning and Survival.

Seller Inventory # BBS-9780300284089

Bibliographic Details

• Title: On Loss and Absence: Textiles of Mourning and Survival (Hardback or Cased Book)
• Publisher: Art Institute of Chicago 11/11/2025
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 030028408X
• ISBN 13: 9780300284089
• Binding: Hardback or Cased Book
• Condition: New
• Weight: 3.08 pounds
• Book Type: Book

About this title

Synopsis

A journey through the rich histories of textiles that explores their significant cultural roles, from memorializing lost loved ones to resisting oppression
 
From ancient Egyptian shrouds to medieval relics, textiles have played both functional and symbolic roles in rituals of death across time and place. Featuring funeral hangings, mourning samplers, garments, and many other textiles and fragments, along with works by contemporary textile artists such as Nick Cave (b. 1959) and Angela Hennessey (b. 1971), this book highlights how these objects help people negotiate experiences of loss, grief, healing, and survival.
 
With over seventy textiles dating from antiquity to today, On Loss and Absence brings together examples from cultures and traditions around the world. Close-up photographs provide an intimate look at the wealth of artistic and historical information embedded in their intricate details and painstaking techniques. In four key sections—Death and Grief, Transition of Realms, Care and Healing, and Resistance and Survival—artists, conservators, educators, and scholars offer their in-depth perspectives on select objects and their context. Contemporary practitioners, including the Noqanchis collective of Andean weavers and Navajo weavers Lynda Teller Pete and Barbara Teller Ornelas, provide insight into the enduring legacies of Indigenous textile arts. A behind-the-scenes look at textile conservation examines preservation techniques in the larger thematic context of care and survival.
 
Distributed for the Art Institute of Chicago
 
Exhibition Schedule:
 
Art Institute of Chicago
(September 6, 2025–March 15, 2026)

About the Author

Isaac Facio is associate conservator in Conservation and Science at the Art Institute of Chicago. Nneka Kai is an interdisciplinary artist based in Atlanta, GA. L Vinebaum is associate professor of fiber and material studies and affiliated full-time faculty in the Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Anne Wilson is an artist and professor emeritus in fiber and material studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.