Fabric of Home

This project explores the place I was born and raised and how its history shaped me, along with the interplay between textiles and colonialism, tracing the transformation, appropriation, and standardization of Turkmen dress over the past 100 years.

Born into a Turkmen-Georgian family just three years before the USSR collapsed, I grew up in a world shaped by its lingering legacy. Its influence still seeped into our culture, language, and everyday life, leaving me feeling like a product of that past. This sense of alienation eventually drove me to explore Turkmenistan's history and culture, seeking to better understand the place I was born and raised.

Central to my project is the exploration of textiles, particularly the significance of Turkmen dress that serves as a symbol of identity and connection. I never owned one (until recently), and to blend in in a Turkmen community I borrowed them from my cousins. In this project I repeat this act in front of the camera by putting on the dresses I borrowed from friends and cousins. 

In addition to the textiles, I reference the legend of Peri and Soltan Sanjar, a mythical woman transformed into a white dove after her loved one (Sanjar) broke his promises. Despite this, she kept returning to his mausoleum after his death. This tale of loss and transformation, I first heard when I was six.

The questions I am exploring in this project also relate to interplay of textile and colonialism, transformation of Turkmen women as traced through textiles and photographs, appropriation of Central Asian fabrics by the Russian empire and standardization of traditional clothing during the Soviet times.   

On my recent trip home, I discovered photographic archives from family and friends that help me to continue exploring some of the above. Finally, I build this story based on my childhood memories, recreating the spaces and places that are now gone but once felt like home, while I was hoping to find home elsewhere.