Woven Landscapes by Ori Orisun Merhav

The installation emerges from a dialogue between humans, nature, and land. Rooted in the ancestral intelligence of naturally woven palm textiles and the studio’s ongoing exploration of lac — the resinous polymer produced by insects — the sculptures bring together two material lineages into a new hybrid composite. At the centre of the installation is the figure of a nourishing and protective force embedded within the landscape. This maternal presence resonates through the recurring cocoon-like forms. Like the cocoon, the palm embodies protection, transformation, and the conditions necessary for life to emerge. Both can be understood as architectures of shelter and becoming — spaces in which life is protected, transformed, and given the conditions to unfold. Through processes of weaving, binding, coating, and transformation, the works investigate how materials shaped by living organisms can become carriers of memory, labour, and ecological knowledge. The resulting forms exist between body and habitat, artifact and organism — appearing less constructed than grown.