River

2017
Used book pages and linen and viscose yarn.
21.5” x 89” x 27”

“...I scatter, I burn my enemies' tents. I take away their flocks and herds. The Turks pay me a golden treasure, yet I am poor! Because I am a river to my people!”
– Auda abu Tayi in David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia, (1962)

“River” is constructed using pages from a book about the desert, which was published by Life Magazine. I wove strips of the book pages together, intuitively stacking color. More handwork was completed after the piece was cut from the loom, creating further nuance in the warp threads down the center of the piece. These warp threads link each strip in a similar way to how the Nile cuts through the middle of the Saharan desert.

This piece was inspired by chapter five, appropriately titled, “Water: the Eternal Problem.” There is a lack of water in the desert, which is discussed extensively throughout the book. Yet water is fundamental for all life to survive in such harsh climate – the central spine for ecological and cultural growth. “River” depicts this delicate balance between necessity and lack thereof.