In this dialogue of works, Amina Bamieh and Pieter Eliëns present their art centered on textiles as a vehicle for messages.

The textile labels in Pieter Eliëns’s work come primarily from secondhand clothes. These found words are carefully composed into textual fragments that can be understood as wishes, hopes, or imperatives. Fastened to their cut-up garments, they are suspended inside a fragile barrier made of thin metal tubes, barely held together by fine ropes and stabilized by improvised weights. These barriers can be seen as a metaphorical gesture: protecting something or marking off a specific area.

Amina Bamieh invites us to discover a collage fresco illustrating her research on Tatreez, the traditional Palestinian style of cross-stitch embroidery. This research aims to explore and visualize the narrative power of these embroideries and to show that they are a form of language—a type of writing and resistance through needle and thread. In these times of ongoing genocide in Gaza, talking about dresses may seem futile, but it is in fact essential. Highlighting Palestinian life in all its expressions—through art, craftsmanship, and culture—is an act of care, memory, and resistance.

Amina Bamieh is an Austro-Palestinian archivist, researcher, and artist based between Paris and Vienna. She works in the field of textile heritage and continues her research on objects of affection and material culture, creating objects imbued with charm and irony. Her research thus explores identity construction and the social body within the contexts she investigates. Mixing political discourse with pop culture, she constructs narratives that blur the line between personal experience and collective identity.

Pieter Eliëns is a Paris-based artist and resident at Poush. Through his works, he seeks to create metaphors that prompt reflection on our position as human beings in relation to other beings—living or not. He is interested in creating temporary sculptures, often using language and neglected or found materials. Through his work, he tries to reveal the fragility and temporality of materials—and, in a broader sense, of human life—to invite us to take a renewed look at our environment and those around us.

This exhibition takes place as part of the Duwoshows.
3 to 13 September, 2025, Wednesday to Saturday, 3pm to 7pm, Rift
Free registration here