Yunuen Pérez

Yunuen Pérez is a Mexican-born, Melbourne based Production designer and weaver. 
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The ritual of the handmade is at the heart of Yunuen Pérezs’ practice as an artist, textile designer and weaver. Drawing on the cultural traditions intrinsic to her Mexican heritage, Pérez translates the raw language of thread, yarn and fibre into intricately constructed textiles that signify her deep connection to history, custom and the cross-cultural contemporary reality that defines her experience. Her practice is profoundly embedded in the domain of the artisan and the craftsworker – design, manual dexterity, labour, function, and an intimate knowledge of materials and techniques. For Pérez, traditional craft-based knowledge is intertwined with her contemporary experience as an artist, as she constructs resonant objects that simultaneously express cultural meaning and personal identity. In the age of globalisation, lost traditions, digital technology and mass manufacture, Pérez reconnects us to the experiential tactility of working directly with materials, and brings us closer to the intimate, slow-time work of the hand.

 

Text by Emma Mayall :: Curator of Contemporary Art & Contributor