Do you consider yourself a weaver?


CCKG: Yes, I call myself a weaver. Even though I make most of my artwork using industrial machines, all the knowledge and experience I put into my Jacquards come from my technical weaving training. You can not learn how to use weaving machines without a solid understanding of weaves. Only when you have internalised the technique, the next step can be taken. But apart from the technology, I also feel very connected to the community in the weaving craft and would like to bring this spirit to the outside world.

"00067-02-500", 2019 Photo by Florian Seidel, Munich

Honorable Mentions Award at KOGEI Award Toyama, Japan

ARTIST STATEMENT



Constanza Camila Kramer Garfias is a Chilean Munich-based artist who has dedicated herself to textiles. The critical examination of textiles appears in the foreground as the medium of her work and is also a reflection of her cultural roots. In her works, for instance, in HYPERISM (2019), she reanimates the history and culture of her ancestors, the native Mapuche people living in Chile, to show the importance of their culture and their understanding of the Cosmos.


Through Constanza Camila Kramer Garfias's engagement with theories of postcolonialism and her bicultural background, she has developed artistic methods to deconstruct colonial structures in textiles. Her works are about taking textiles to their limits as a medium and subject, combining both artisanal and industrial techniques. Throughout her critical approach she develops artistic strategies that deal with hegemonic power structures, whilst remaining self-reflective.


With her project Autobahn Evolution – Generation Overload (2022), she interweaves genetic research and computer science into her artistic practice. This undertaking will be represented visually by crossing two textiles and their resulting offspring. Though often demanding and complicated in preparation Kramer Garfias favours the potential of the experiment over fears of technical failure. As a result her body of textile works remains playful; taking various forms, sizes and aesthetic languages.


With the use of artificial intelligence, the intersection of the two weaved artworks will be mathematically calculated. Through her works, she aims to transform the traditional perception of textiles in western societies and to find a new voice for textiles in the visual arts.