K29 Kiffeyeh, 2016

Para-aramid synthetic fiber (K29 Kevlar®); with cotton-thread embroidery in cross-stitch. This project explores the potential of Kevlar® as a powerful material used to resist bullets and similar flying projectiles. Having been transported in...

Para-aramid synthetic fiber (K29 Kevlar®); with cotton-thread embroidery in cross-stitch. This project explores the potential of Kevlar® as a powerful material used to resist bullets and similar flying projectiles. Having been transported into Lebanon from the US, the length of Kevlar® was then delivered into the home of a woman in the Ain al-Hilweh Refugee Camp in Saida, who was requested to embroider this traditional pattern upon the textile in cross-stitch to preserve the structural integrity of the Kevlar fiber. Wrapping it around one’s head, the Keffiyeh’s performance is increased through the layering of material and the multi-directionality of the weave. It does so while maintaining an omnipresence in the battlefield and for a moment disturbing the representational fixity of the victim.