Handwoven tapestry from recycled yarn
17 cm x 22 cm / piece
2023 – ongoing 

A passport photo is probably the most common form of portraiture worldwide, even though it is not often considered a classic portrait. For many people, at least in the West, the photo ID itself is a tool, a way to access one’s rights to exist in certain places, enabling actions, products, services or transportation. However, its stronger power is the opposite. As much as passports and identifications entitle, they also exclude, block and stop. A mundane document for some can prevent the access to everyday life for another.

In the artwork ID, passport photos emerge from between covers, wallets and desk drawers. For anyone to see, not just for authorities, shop cashiers or law enforcers to glance at. When a picture is built by a woven thread, an image that is easily overlooked in everyday life appears in a new context. What do the faces stripped in so many different ways reveal about the systems we live in, what do they show about ourselves?

 Recycled yarn is also part of the narrative, the material beckons to see it closer. The different shades of yarn thread back and forth between the warp threads, painting a picture. As a material, wool yarn also carries with it its own emotional charge: soft textiles are always associated with its haptic, bodily nostalgia. You can feel the softness even without touching it. Recycled material carries with it the memory of hands it passed through, a memory of touch.