Soft Archives: Threads and Textures of History
Curator: Arianne Ohara

April 5 – April 27, 2025

Soft Archives: Threads and Textures of History highlights how textile artists weave fibers of individuality into a tapestry of collective memory. Featuring six early-career artists across the U.S., the exhibition examines diasporic narratives through fiber. Diego Borgsdorf Fuenzalida’s South American weavings document life after political violence in diasporic Chile, while Davvon Branker’s cyanotype fabric installations imprint images of Afro-Caribbean lives. Kayla Dantz transforms photographs into wearable archives, and Hùng Lê fills archival silences of the American War in Việt Nam with indigo dyes and embroidered cyanotypes. Annais Morales highlights Mexican-American nostalgia in the California borderlands, and lyra purugganan’s filet crochet explores desire, joy, and colonial legacies in the Philippines. These artists showcase fiber’s potential as an archival material capable of building history. The tactile nature of textiles invites an intimate engagement with the past, becoming a canvas upon which underrepresented voices can be amplified while challenging dominant historical accounts.

Curatorial Statement

Arianne Ohara is a curator dedicated to sustainable practices with a focus on uplifting emerging contemporary artists. As a Mexico City native with Japanese-American roots, Ohara centers her research-based practice on the exploration of cultural heritage and intersectional history, examining how the construction of cultural memory shapes our understanding of the past and its lasting resonance in the present. She has a particular interest in tactile and multidimensional objects that create immersive experiences and interactive installations. Ohara currently works at the American Museum of Ceramic Art and the Pitzer College Art Galleries, where she curates student exhibitions such as “Sensorium” and “(re)Location: Real and Imaginative Displacement”. Previously, she held curatorial and collections roles at the Institute of Contemporary Art, LA, and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Ohara is earning her BA in Art History and Environmental Analysis at Pitzer College.