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Mantón de plumas
Feathered Shawl

New York, 2022-24

Feathers on silk organza, hand-embroidered French knots and fringe (embroidery floss)
56.75” x 56.75”

Inspired by the mantones de Manila viewed at The Hispanic Society’s Textiles Collection during a fellowship research residency in 2021–2, my version of the mantón takes the use of feathers from my simultaneous project of amate paper featherworks diptychs as a starting point for using feathers on fabric.

Contrary to the traditional mantón main use as to wear on the body, my version is created with the intention for installation purposes only.

With this piece I intend to honor the lives of birds, both dead and alive, who unwillingly collaborated with me in donating their feathers to create the piece.

The green trim framing the piece was created using macramé's lark's head knot technique. Each of the 4 sides took me 15 hours of labor, for a total of 60 hours just on the fringe only. It was inspired by the long green tails of the Quetzal, Guatemala's national bird, which I wanted to incorporate in the piece to honor and bring something from the country I migrated from.

This project along with FeatherWorks was supported by a FY2022 NYSCA Grant for Artists for the creation of new work, sponsored by The Hispanic Society.

This page was created with the support of a CERF+ Get Ready Grant from 2023.
The Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF+) serves craft artists across the United States and territories by providing education programs, advocacy, network building, and emergency relief. www.cerfplus.org

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