Luciana Bongiovanni

Wool has always been in my life. I am from Argentina and my family work in the wool wholesaling business there. I grew up surrounded by my mom, grandmother and aunts knitting as a daily task, and my dad needlepointing as a hobby. Wool means home to me. 

But, what does home mean as an immigrant? Or where? A concept so tied to a place, a territory, a community; to culture; to family. Many of the aspects that form our identity. It becomes a constant dichotomy of belonging or not-belonging, and the links between. The questioning translates to my art in the shape of juxtapositions –that sometimes flow, others reject and sometimes crash into each other–, as layers of meaning and of being.

I create my weaving tapestries on multi-sized looms with many types of wool, cotton thread and fabric, which include the use of repurposed textiles and wool from local MN mills. They were selected to participate in several shows in local art galleries, in the Stone Arch Bridge Festival, The Uptown Fair, Art-Attack, Art-A-Whirl and MN’s State Fair Fine Art Exhibition. 

My work is mostly abstract and it plays with contrasts: organic shapes are in dialogue with geometric forms, softness with roughness, raw materials with mass produced ones, and plain textures with dynamic three-dimensions. It expressed warmth, connection and roots, concepts that explore the meaning of home. And in its own way, continues the time-honored ancient tradition of weaving into modern life.