Last December I was in Boston for a very short visit, and happened upon two adjacent exhibitions and Boston’s MFA that intrigued me. Cecelia Vicuña: Disappeared Quipu and Sheila Hicks Bamian and Kneeling Stones.
In the first room, Sheila Vicuña had created a room-size installation of knotted fiber, and projected images of the marks those knots would leave after dyeing. The quipu that inspired this monumental tribute to a forgotten language, the whispered voices surrounding you, and the amplified and circling patterns all contribute to an ever-changing textual landscape.
Sheila Hicks, Kneeling Stones, about 1990.
Sheila Hicks, Bamian, 1968.
Then, in the next room was Sheila Hicks similarly monumental wrapped objects that hearkened to another lost language. Or maybe a story that we need to listen more carefully to hear…