Alchemies of Place

Remapping: Nour Jaouda's textiles deconstruct slippery notions of home and belonging

- by Mariana Fernández

THE BEST WAY TO APPROACH Nour Jaouda's richly textured, multi-coloured textiles is through process – maybe because, in their dual state of assembly and deconstruction, they evoke the feeling of works in progress. Jaouda, who is of Libyan descent, begins by sketching outlines of the geometric and organic forms she encounters in Cairo, where she grew up and currently lives, and London, where she also keeps a studio. She then transforms these flat shapes into objects that she cuts, moulds, heat-presses, tears, reconstructs and sews into layered topographies. Latticework dotting Cairene mosques, plants, flowers and Victorian architectural motifs all combine to form abstracted maps of the various places the artist inhabits or remembers.

When speaking with me this March, Jaouda uses many words that begin with 'de' (deconstructive, destruction, décollage) to describe her approach, though the opposite terms – additive, rebuilding, collage – are equally applicable. In