Cochineal Cartographies: San Agustín

Cochineal Cartographies is a collection of hand-woven tapestries that represent and interpret the Ibizencan landscape. Simple recordings of journeys made on foot by the artist to find and collect cochineal in different parts of the island. Each walk focuses on the collection of the cochineal which relieves the Prickly Pear allowing it to breath and grow. The plant is cleaned and its growth is restored. The lines of the map created by the woven fabric of Cochineal Cartographies are dyed with the collected cochineal, and so the narrative appears and a map is woven.

Weaving is a profound metaphor for understanding the workings of the universe and our place in it. Natures rhythms are resembled by the pulse of the shuttle and the beam in the making of the woven fabric. The crossing of two interlacing threads, the warp and weft, are transformed to form the Cochineal Cartographies, a series of handwoven tapestries that intend to produce new meaning and engagement with the world.

The maps serve as a record of interplay with the remembered, the imagined and the contemplated, between the environment and ourselves. They tell a story of interconnectedness with self and surroundings through time, place and our journey’s intention. In this instance to relieve the prickly pear from suffocation and create beauty in the process.

Size: 103 x 46 cm

Medium: Linen yarn, organic Spanish yarn made from the wool of Basque transhumance sheep hand-dyed with cochineal. Handmade oak frame.

Where: Ibiza

Year: 2024