JOHANA MOSCOSO

Entre sistemas invisibles presents a new body of textile work by Bogotá-born, Memphis-based artist and SCAD graduate Johana Moscoso (M.F.A., sculpture, 2009) that unravels hidden systems of oppression in our daily lives. In the works on view, Moscoso hand-stitches vibrant layers of laser-cut fabric together using the traditional Mola technique, a reverse appliqué method originated by Indigenous Latin American communities in which layers of different colored cloth are sewn together, nearly invisibly, and then worked upon or cut away to reveal a design. Embracing beliefs held by the Kunas people, that evil spirits settle in the unworked spaces of the layers, Moscoso saturates each brightly colored textile panel with intricate embroidery, obscuring seams and structures. She dances salsa over each work with her bare feet covered in glue, simultaneously preparing the surface of the fabric for a metallic foil transfer as a final embellishment. For Moscoso, the artistic process is a mapping practice, tracing the artist’s and her family’s migratory journeys using the ancestral knowledge of stitching, embroidering, and dancing so integral to her personal and cultural histories.

Press Coverage

Peter Relic, “Johana Moscoso: she dances salsa,” SCAD Works, August 12, 2022.

Photos Courtesy of SCAD