“Text means Tissue; but whereas hitherto we have always taken this tissue as a product, a ready-made veil, behind which lies, more or less hidden, meaning (truth), we are now emphasizing, in the tissue, the generative idea that the text is made, is worked out in a perpetual interweaving; lost in this tissue—this texture—the subject unmakes himself, like a spider dissolving in the constructive secretions of its web.” —The Pleasure of the Text, Roland Barthes

Published in conjunction with Francesca Capone’s exhibition of the same at Nationale (Portland, OR), Text means Tissue is comprised of writings and textiles from over thirty artists, centered on women’s relationships with cloth. Parallels between textile and feminine nature are numerous, and appear repeatedly throughout history and art. Textiles have functioned as a surface onto which women have expressed their experiences and, more functionally, clothed and protected themselves and their families. “Text means Tissue” proposes that the articulation of ideas in cloth and writing are interchangeable as modes of feminine expression. Through this expanded use of language, the project creates a contemporary framework for a dialogue that women have been shaping for centuries.

With contributing artists: Alexandra Barlow, Anna-Sophie Berger, Jen Bervin, Amaranth Borsuk, Tess Brown-Lavoie, Charity Coleman, Corina Copp, Elizabeth Crawford, Alayna Rasile Digrindakis, Ricki Dwyer, Catie Hannigan, Marwa Helal, Emily Hunt, Lucy Ives, Rin Johnson, Mariette Lamson, Sophia Le Fraga, Monica McClure, Helen Mirra, Katy Mongeau, Kristen Mueller, Vi Khi Nao, Patricia No, Antonia Pinter, Anahita Jamali Rad, Emmalea Russo, Molly Schaeffer, Martha Tuttle, Rachel Valinsky, Cecilia Vicuña, Rosmarie Waldrop, Tali Weinberg, and Laura A. Warman.