020
An Ace up my Sleeve
2026
plaster, cotton thread, recycled cotton thread, steel sheet
approx. 70 x 100 x 15 cm
(This artwork was shortlisted for the Noema Craft Prize 2026)
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(Νηματογραφίες )—a neologism coined to describe a new, imagined geography formed by the hand through thread. The series suggests a systematic mapping of a hybrid landscape—simultaneously urban, natural, corporeal, and gendered—shaped through mental wanderings and guided by hands that substitute for the eyes. Recording unspoken or semi-transparent observations, the work forms a veil, a textile, or, following Hélène Cixous, a sext. In this specific piece, the physical outline follows a sleeve pattern, borrowing the foundational language of garment construction to ground its spatial discourse.
Within this framework, weaving emerges as a form of writing used to interpret the landscape, bridging the gap between manual labor and architectural thinking. Through repetitive handiwork, a site is "inscribed in the mind." Paraphrasing Renzo Piano’s view on drawing as cited by Richard Sennett in The Craftsman: “You do it, you redo it, and you redo it again.” Weaving is thus weaponized as a form of revisiting. Embracing Immanuel Kant’s assertion that “the hand is the window to the mind,” the work celebrates tactile intelligence over visual bias. As Charles Bell argued, the eye is often deceived by false appearances, whereas the touch of the hand provides a more reliable reality. Through the rhythmic repetition of the manual process, the hand and eye learn to focus together, extending the very rhythm of the human heartbeat into the structural logic of the craft.