Giselle Restrepo
Giselle Restrepo
Sometimes I dream of evaporating (installation view), 2025-2026
Reverse applique and applique with indigo-dyed antique french bed linen, raw silk, vintage synthetic textiles, silk gauze, silks, cottons. Variable; full installation approx 6' x 6'
Textiles both functional and expressive are part of every family’s heritage, mine no exception. Tangible moments have endured after decades: watching my mother quilting with textiles gathered over decades, admiring the meditative and precise work of Hardanger embroidery from my grandmother’s stash, and puzzling out the reverse applique of the many Guna Molas brought over from Colombia. These objects of cotton and thread transcend time and place and remain as both memory and artifact. In this body of work, I explore the echoes of childhood and motherhood of past and present: Sketching shapes in the clouds with imagination. Lying sprawled on the bed in brief moments of overwhelm. Creating humble tapestries woven on a child’s loom from leftover silk scraps, cotton twine and whatever materials I could scrounge. I operate in a world where the mind flows between multiple roles simultaneously; daytime business lady, figuring out motherhood on the fly, squeezing in creative time when one can. Changing in form but not
Giselle Restrepo
Sometimes I dream of evaporating (detail), 2025-2026
Reverse applique and applique with indigo-dyed antique french bed linen, raw silk, vintage synthetic textiles, silk gauze, silks, cottons. Variable; full installation approx 6' x 6'
Textiles both functional and expressive are part of every family’s heritage, mine no exception. Tangible moments have endured after decades: watching my mother quilting with textiles gathered over decades, admiring the meditative and precise work of Hardanger embroidery from my grandmother’s stash, and puzzling out the reverse applique of the many Guna Molas brought over from Colombia. These objects of cotton and thread transcend time and place and remain as both memory and artifact. In this body of work, I explore the echoes of childhood and motherhood of past and present: Sketching shapes in the clouds with imagination. Lying sprawled on the bed in brief moments of overwhelm. Creating humble tapestries woven on a child’s loom from leftover silk scraps, cotton twine and whatever materials I could scrounge. I operate in a world where the mind flows between multiple roles simultaneously; daytime business lady, figuring out motherhood on the fly, squeezing in creative time when one can. Changing in form but not in essence. All the while looking up for inspiration.
Giselle Restrepo
Tarjetas Postales de Memorias (57 imagined postcards), detail view #2, Feb-March 2026
Mixed media, felt, silk, polyester organza, linen blend, pearls, garnets, velvet, brocade, hand-woven wool, metal, found objects Each card approx 5" x 3.5"; full installation 46"w x 34"h
As the occupation of Minneapolis in January became more and more violent, oppressive, and coded in fascist imagery, I found myself living in multiple timelines: The present moment, where my neighbors were being disappeared regardless of status, where the window in my office was a spotlight on the memorial of Alex Pretti, and where the sounds of whistles evoked both pride and terror concurrently. And separately, I was transported to an imagined, but equally real, past: my grandfather’s own escape from terror and violence 90 years earlier, when he and his brother were nearly the same ages as my own children today. On July 19, 1936, the Spanish Civil War broke out in Barcelona, resulting in countless horrors and decades of fascist rule. August 7, 1936, my grandfather, his brother, and their blind father were among the first 57 Colombian refugees, fleeing practically overnight to cross the border to France to board the steamer Orazio from Marseille to Puerto Colombia (Barranquilla). These 57 postcards from the
Giselle Restrepo
Targetas Postales de Memorias (57 imagined postcards) Detail view, Feb-March 2026
Mixed media, felt, silk, polyester organza, linen blend, pearls, garnets, velvet, brocade, hand-woven wool, metal, found objects Each card approx 5" x 3.5"; full installation 46"w x 34"h
As the occupation of Minneapolis in January became more and more violent, oppressive, and coded in fascist imagery, I found myself living in multiple timelines: The present moment, where my neighbors were being disappeared regardless of status, where the window in my office was a spotlight on the memorial of Alex Pretti, and where the sounds of whistles evoked both pride and terror concurrently. And separately, I was transported to an imagined, but equally real, past: my grandfather’s own escape from terror and violence 90 years earlier, when he and his brother were nearly the same ages as my own children today. On July 19, 1936, the Spanish Civil War broke out in Barcelona, resulting in countless horrors and decades of fascist rule. August 7, 1936, my grandfather, his brother, and their blind father were among the first 57 Colombian refugees, fleeing practically overnight to cross the border to France to board the steamer Orazio from Marseille to Puerto Colombia (Barranquilla). These 57 postcards from the Orazio are part meditation created amid chaos in my own city, and part imagined documentation of the other passengers whose names—until the final day of creating—had been lost to history and memories. I imagined what was left, what was witnessed, and what was hoped—coexisting in and between past and present.
Giselle Restrepo
Tarjetas Postales de Memorias (57 imagined postcards) Installation View, Feb-March 2026
Mixed media, felt, silk, polyester organza, linen blend, pearls, garnets, velvet, brocade, hand-woven wool, metal, found objects Each card approx 5" x 3.5"; full installation 46"w x 34"h
As the occupation of Minneapolis in January became more and more violent, oppressive, and coded in fascist imagery, I found myself living in multiple timelines: The present moment, where my neighbors were being disappeared regardless of status, where the window in my office was a spotlight on the memorial of Alex Pretti, and where the sounds of whistles evoked both pride and terror concurrently. And separately, I was transported to an imagined, but equally real, past: my grandfather’s own escape from terror and violence 90 years earlier, when he and his brother were nearly the same ages as my own children today. On July 19, 1936, the Spanish Civil War broke out in Barcelona, resulting in countless horrors and decades of fascist rule. August 7, 1936, my grandfather, his brother, and their blind father were among the first 57 Colombian refugees, fleeing practically overnight to cross the border to France to board the steamer Orazio from Marseille to Puerto Colombia (Barranquilla). These 57 postcards from the Orazio are part meditation created amid chaos in my own city, and part imagined documentation of the other passengers whose names—until the final day of creating—had been lost to history and memories. I imagined what was left, what was witnessed, and what was hoped—coexisting in and between past and present.
Giselle Restrepo
Sometimes I daydream of evaporating, 2025-2026
Reverse applique and applique with indigo-dyed antique french bed linen, raw silk, vintage synthetic textiles, silk gauze, silks, cottons. Variable; full installation approx 6' x 6'
Textiles both functional and expressive are part of every family’s heritage, mine no exception. Tangible moments have endured after decades: watching my mother quilting with textiles gathered over decades, admiring the meditative and precise work of Hardanger embroidery from my grandmother’s stash, and puzzling out the reverse applique of the many Guna Molas brought over from Colombia. These objects of cotton and thread transcend time and place and remain as both memory and artifact. In this body of work, I explore the echoes of childhood and motherhood of past and present: Sketching shapes in the clouds with imagination. Lying sprawled on the bed in brief moments of overwhelm. Creating humble tapestries woven on a child’s loom from leftover silk scraps, cotton twine and whatever materials I could scrounge. I operate in a world where the mind flows between multiple roles simultaneously; daytime business lady, figuring out motherhood on the fly, squeezing in creative time when one can. Changing in form but not in essence. All the while looking up for inspiration.
Giselle Restrepo
Mechanics of Motion, 2012/2022
Reverse applique; Silk, linen, polyester, rayon 25.5" x 36"
