Textile Stories: A Living Archive

Join us for a panel discussion with artists participating in Textile Stories: A Living Archive, a community-driven archive and multi-venue exhibition at Chicago art spaces Comfort Station and KIOSK. Sofía Magdits Espinoza, Natalia Villanueva Linares, and Victoria Martinez will be in conversation about their work.

With a focus on Latin America, the project both documents and preserves traditional textile techniques and histories and gives contemporary artists a platform to share their work. Participating artists include Milena Volonteri, Natalia Villanueva Linares, Alejandra Mizrahi, Textiles Semillas, María José Durán Steinman, Andrei Fernández, Tamara Marcos, María José Murillo, Beatriz Morales, Victoria Martinez, Cecilia Vicuña, and Sofia Magdits Espinoza.

Textile Stories is curated by Sofía Magdits Espinoza and Louisa Potthast and presented with support by the Goethe-Institut Chicago and Logly.

PARTICIPANT BIOS

Natalia Villanueva Linares (PERU/FRAN) graduated with honors from the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. She currently lives in Chicago and works between North and South America and Europe. Natalia is also a cultural worker, having co-founded the non-profit organization Yaku in Peoria IL.

Sofía Magdits Espinoza (PERU) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Düsseldorf, Germany. She graduated with honors from the Art Academy of Düsseldorf in 2023. Her work spans various disciplines such as textiles, performance, installations, music, and video, with a particular focus on weaving.

Victoria Martinez (MEX) has done intensive research into indigenous Mexican textile patterns and pre-Columbian archeological sites. Her works reactivate collective memories of urban spaces. She proposes a mutual dialogue with space, and invites us to recognize how we shape our environments and—equally—how we are created by them.