Traces of Memory: From Stone to Textile

How does the meaning of historical visual motifs change as they move from one material form to another? What new possibilities for interpretation emerge through their contemporary artistic reimagining?

Nino Chokoshvili’s exhibition Traces of Memory: From Stone to Textile explores the material forms of cultural memory and the possibilities for transforming historical visual signs. The exhibition presents motifs from different periods of Georgian cultural heritage, from prehistoric petroglyphs to medieval architectural reliefs, through contemporary textile works.

Stone is one of the oldest carriers of historical memory. For centuries, stone ornamentation has preserved human-made signs, symbols and images. Transferring this visual heritage into textile changes both the material nature of the image and the possibilities for its perception and interpretation.

Central to the project is the continuity of memory and the new meanings it acquires through material transformation. The solidity and monumentality of stone give way to the flexibility and softness of textile, while relief images take on new forms through appliqué, quilting and hand embroidery.

Nino Chokoshvili reworks historical motifs through changes in scale, colour, texture and composition. In this process, images move beyond their original contexts and become independent artistic forms. The past emerges as an open system of meanings, continually reinterpreted through contemporary experience and the possibilities offered by different materials.

The exhibition gives particular attention to manual labour and the process of textile making. Working the fabric, arranging its layers and repeating the act of stitching produce new traces on the surface. From this perspective, textile becomes a space in its own right for preserving and reshaping memory, where historical imagery connects with a new material experience.

Traces of Memory: From Stone to Textile is a dialogue between two distinct material and temporal experiences. The project offers a way of understanding cultural heritage through its continuous transformation and its relationship with contemporary artistic practice.