Kyle Meyer

Kyle Meyer

Interwoven

Hardcover
11 x 12.75 inches
80 images
192 pages
Radius Books
Co-published with Yossi Milo
2020

From the artist:

KYLE MEYER has worked between eSwatini (formerly Swaziland) and New York City since 2009, creating richly tactile artworks as conceptually layered and complicated as they are visually lush and intricate. In this debut monograph, Meyer’s portraits from his Interwoven series reflect an interest in infusing digital photography with traditional Swazi crafts and in giving voice to silenced members of the LGBTQ community, who are marginalized in eSwatini. Tension between the necessity of the individuals to hide their queerness for basic survival and their desire to express themselves openly inform both the subject and the means of fabricating Meyer’s unique works. 

Each work from the Interwoven series is labor-intensive, taking days or sometimes weeks to complete. Meyer often photographs his subjects wearing a traditional head wrap made from a vibrantly colored textile. He then produces a large-scale print of the portrait and hand-shreds the photograph, together with the fabric from the head wrap, weaving the strips into a complexly patterned, three-dimensional work. With the final portrait, Meyer presents each person’s individuality and beauty while using the fabric as a screen to protect their identity. 

The book includes a foreword by Todd J. Tubutis, Director, Art Museum of West Virginia University, and a conversation between Meyer and Andy Campbell, Assistant Professor of Critical Studies, University of Southern California.

Photography by Kyle Meyer
Foreword by Todd J. Tubutis
Interview by Andy Campbell

Video by Radius Books

Book review by Francesco Scalici |

A stunning representation of photography and textile. Collage work has always been a relatively difficult aspect of art to execute, it’s this difficulty in execution that make bodies of work like Kyle Meyer’s ‘Interwoven’ stand out. An approach to collage and textile work that is not oversaturated and simple in nature. The very presentation of these images has been considered, from the smallest of photos displayed in the centre of the book to others that focus specifically on the material and colour of the cloth.

This project is of course highlighting the queerness and expression of individuals from the kingdom of Eswatini. It is a stunningly simple yet powerful way of documenting the lack of freedom that members from the LGBTQ community face on a daily basis. The inability to be oneself and hide a desire to fit in with the rest of society is exemplified throughout each tapestry. To some degree, there is much symbolism in the way that Meyer has chosen to showcase these crafts. Each face is somewhat blurred by the layering of different colours within each piece, shapes are used to hide the characters that have been brave enough to put themselves forward.

There is also a strange uniformity inherent within each piece of craft that is simultaneously broken by the dotting of contrasting colours, a meticulously long process which has resulted in photographs that more like works of art and stand strong as individual pieces.

Another very interesting aspect of this book is again referring back to the idea of symbolism as previously mentioned. The images work because they are not actually exhibiting the cloth inside, they are photographs of photographs of a mixed media piece. Mayer has in this case unintentionally created a body of work that we cannot interact with. We can see the photographs of these crafts, yet we cannot feel them, we cannot run our hands through the texture.

The parallel here is between the isolation of Swazi individuals, (which face an environment that punishes them for being gay) and our inability to physically touch the labour-intensive work that communicates this. This inability to touch the very craft that communicates Meyer’s message is the very reason why this body of work is powerful. It unintentionally communicates a lack of emotion that we, as readers are searching for. Similarly, the members of the LGBTQ community who wish to be accepted are also lacking this emotional connection with the rest of their community.

Serving as a bookmark as well as adding a very respectful and personal touch to this project is a piece of fabric, torn from the remanence of the “interwoven” project. In a way this small detail elevates the very execution of this body of work to something rather personal to the artist/photographer. The inclusion of this small piece of fabric (serving as a bookmark) is Meyer’s way of closing the chapter and finalizing the presentation of the images themselves.

Kyle Meyer has captivated the truthfulness of a community that lives in constant fear. A tension between the need to express a sense of queerness and the holding back of their very nature.