Selma Alaçam, a Karlsruhe, Germany-based artist, fuses the two halves of her identity in a lovely, striking project she calls heartstrings. Her series of kelim — flat, handwoven carpets native to her father’s homeland, Turkey — finds Alaçam combining a traditional Middle Eastern art form with contemporary, Western song lyrics that reflect her mother’s German heritage and her own European upbringing.
As Artnews observed, “Such lyrical statements reflect the self-reference of the Western individual that juxtaposes the cautious emotional expression of the weaver in the particular pattern of the carpet. The typeface itself – orthogonally arranged sans-serif capital letters – also contrasts with the diagonal jagged layout of the background.” Click through to see heartstrings, which betrays Alaçam’s fondness for the likes of Depeche Mode, Antony and the Johnsons, and particularly Fiona Apple.
Image credit: Selma Alaçam
Image credit: Selma Alaçam
Image credit: Selma Alaçam
Image credit: Selma Alaçam
Image credit: Selma Alaçam
Image credit: Selma Alaçam
Image credit: Selma Alaçam