Luisa Mantelli
Threads of Topography
My thesis collection, Threads of Topography, is a cartography of memory, place, and material that draws on a lifetime of textile practice rooted in the rural landscapes of southern Brazil. My work translates lived experience into contours of structured crochet, vertical tensions of basket-inspired grids, layered weaving patterns that evoke childhood horizons to the light, and point-driven crochet that reframes perception. Raw and repurposed fibers are dyed in earthen hues from hierba mate, built into landscapes that balance translucency and density and invite viewers to change their perception of space through an exploration of the undulating lines that suggest home, displacement, and renewal.
Embodying a practice that honors slowness and ritual, the pieces interrogate how we inhabit space. Meticulous repetition in stitch and structure creates intimate textures that ripple outward into delicate and monumental forms. This collection invites one to look closer, reconsider microboundaries and macroboundaries, and discover a sublime and fragile textile interplay.
Learn more at luisamantelli.com
