Woman's wrap (Kesa) c. 20th century

This Woman's wrap, or Kesa, was made at some point with fiber, and dye, by an anonymous artist, somewhere. The approach to pattern-making here really speaks to me, in that it’s both ordered and kind of wild. When you look at the material, the colors, the surface... that physicality is just gorgeous. The way the reddish-browns and tans play off each other is not too dissimilar from the work of someone like Anni Albers, with the way color and texture come together. Take the diamonds, for instance. They are formed in reds, blacks, and tans; simple shapes made complex by layering of color. It's this tension between control and chance, that to me, makes the piece so beautiful and timeless. It’s about process, about the slow, deliberate act of creation. I think of the piece, not as a fixed object, but as an ongoing conversation – a reminder that art is always in dialogue with itself, across time and cultures.