Argentinian artist and designer Alexandra Kehayoglou creates textured carpets that evoke the landscapes of her native country. In them, she documents the ecological changes in the landscapes of Argentina. The carpets show foliage left over years of land exploitation and the return over time of local flora and fauna, from thistles to deer. The works reflect changes in the environment, the need for change, and the hope of Argentines for a better future.
The carpets, which look like aerial photos of Argentine landscapes, are created by hand using leftover carpet yarn from the family factory’s warehouses. So green groves and moss, riverbeds, and lakes, sands and stones appear on the surface. Each piece captures the author’s own memories, including how the waterways slowly recede and the grasslands of Argentina change.
A series of works by Prayer Rugs depicts the footprints of animals and flora of the wetlands of the Parana River, an area located 50 kilometers from Buenos Aires. In recent years, the region’s biodiversity has been undermined by the timber and paper industries. This contributed to the growth of atypical plant species that have since grown out of control. In addition, human-caused fires have damaged the region in 2020, and livestock have trampled once lush pastures.
“The isolation made me think of my carpets as a space where new forms of activity can be realized,” says the designer. – A type of activity that, instead of focusing on paranoid conflict, was quiet, absorbing, and, in my opinion, more effective. My carpets thus became a tool for documenting “minor” aspects of the earth that were otherwise ignored as irrelevant. It emphasizes micro-narratives that will open new doors for a possible ecological future.”
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