Susan Hefuna : LISTEN TO: The sound of Earth, Sun, Water and Air

For her latest solo exhibition at Pi Artworks, Susan Hefuna will present her most recent body of textile works, a series which reflects on the fragility of life, nature and humankind. Reminding viewers of the cycle of time, LISTEN TO: The Sound of Earth, Sun, Water and Air, blends colourful collages of text and shape to trigger feelings of togetherness and of a connectedness with our planet. 

Informed by the aesthetics of Africa and Japan, the traditional craft of American quilts, and of storytelling worldwide, Hefuna has been creating textile works since 2001. Through exploring this medium in costume, installation and wall tapestries, she has developed her own artistic language that connects words with structures of dots and lines - motifs familiar from her multilayered drawings. In these striking, graffiti-like works, such as the WATER diptych or the LISTEN TO triptych, these connected white dots and lines appear as if constellations, a stellar network stretching out against a night-sky of black Egyptian cotton. 

Hefuna’s practice is constantly enriched by her own combined Egyptian and German heritage, and her textile works, including those currently on display, particularly emphasise the visual and cultural signifiers that have come to embody this unique inter-cultural identity. Indeed, they are directly linked to the Cairo-based craft of traditional tent making, inspired by temporary textile structures used for various celebrations. Similarly, the use of collage is a long-standing feature of Hefuna’s practice, and her hybrid approach to materials is evident in the overlapping structures and words appliqued onto cotton.

Pi Artworks has previously exhibited Hefuna’s textile works in the solo exhibition: Susan Hefuna- BeYond NoThing in Istanbul 2014. In 2019, Pi Artworks London highlighted her costumes and wall pieces in Susan Hefuna - Textiles. The Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo also recently honoured Hefuna`s textile works in 2023, with Susan Hefuna: Traces Of Egypt - a large installation of 28 costumes inspired by Ancient Egypt and the direct connection between humans and nature. LISTEN TO, therefore, marks a continuation of Hefuna’s ongoing engagement with cultural and social histories through material, offering a snapshot of her ever-evolving relationship with textiles.