The main focus of the weavings and practice of Benjamin Mengistu Navet is the creation of a dialogue between industry and craftsmanship, in order to question objects’ production process. Based on Navet’s research into post-colonial practices in the field of fashion and textiles, he has investigated his Ethiopian background through pattern-making by combining traditional and industrial techniques. He approaches his practice as a laboratory where textiles and garments enter into a dialogue or confrontation with other media and images.
Whether it is to create a dialogue between industry and craftsmanship, to interrogate the traumatic question of forced immigration, or the journey of a textile like the Madras weavings, the domain of textiles helps him to interrogate our relationship with this material.
His latest project Dear Julius is based on research into how a musical score by Julius Eastman could be translated into a jacquard weave.