Cape (Handira) c. 1930

This textile work—a cape, or handira—was made by Oulad el Haj Amazigh, who are Berber. I can just see their hands at work, looping and knotting and building up this surface, row upon row, shifting and adjusting. The Berber people are renowned for their weaving, but to call this weaving almost seems to diminish it. It is a layered, textural composition, where the dark, horizontal, furry areas meet a grid of vertical lines below. This is a cape, something to wear, but the colour combinations, the way they play off one another, also invite a deeper looking. I keep thinking about Agnes Martin, how she built her grids, her careful repetitions, to make these beautiful meditative paintings. I imagine there’s a similar intention here. It's an incredible thing when an artwork can bridge its function and become transcendent, opening a space of imagination and meaning, and speaking across generations.