Rituals

the rites project explores remembrance, connection to ancestors, and the preservation of personal memories through textiles. the starting point for this research was the egungun tradition of the west african yoruba culture, in which the community connects with deceased ancestors in a ritual form; these ancestors are present as protectors and moral guides. my personal inspiration for the project was a deceased ancestor of mine, my great-grandmother. drawing on her memory, i translated her distinctive hairstyle and the color palette of the clothes she wore into abstract visual elements and textile structures. thus, personal remembrance does not appear as an illustrative portrait, but is integrated into the work through colors, rhythms, layering, and material gestures. during the design process, i reinterpreted this layering through my own personal color associations, as well as through weaving, knitting, crocheting, and interlocking textile elements. in the resulting textile surfaces, individual colors, forms, and layers of material appear as abstract imprints of memories connected to my great-grandmother. the textile simultaneously becomes a surface, a structure, and a vessel for memories, in which family history and contemporary thinking in textile art are intertwined. photographer: martin glavánovits model: kincső keglevich