Threading Memory: Textile, Feminist Ritual, and Landscape – Public talk with Konul Rafiyeva
Thursday 26 June 2025 at 5–7 pm at
Frame Contemporary Art Finland, Töölönkatu 11 A
In this intimate public talk, Azerbaijan-based curator and cultural producer Konul Rafiyeva will present her ongoing curatorial research exploring textile as a feminist language of memory, ritual, and resistance. Rooted in her transregional practice between the South Caucasus and Nordic contexts, Konul examines how thread, fabric, and embodied craft become tools for archiving suppressed histories, ecological loss, and collective survival. Konul Rafiyeva is currently a resident at HIAP – Helsinki International Artist Programme.
In this pilot iteration of her ongoing project Textile Traces: Listening to Resistance, Rafiyeva explores textile as a carrier of embodied knowledge, feminist memory, and sonic ritual. Drawing on field research across the South Caucasus and Nordic regions, the event interweaves curatorial storytelling, material gestures, and reflections on how cloth archives loss, resistance, and collective care. This activation is part of Rafiyeva’s broader inquiry into feminist spatial practice, landscape-based resistance, and transregional curating.
The presentation will be followed by an informal conversation among the participants. Due to the event format, this event will not be available to follow online.
About Konul Rafiyeva
Konul Rafiyeva is an independent curator and cultural practitioner from Azerbaijan with a strong background in textile heritage, contemporary art, and environmental narratives. She previously worked at the National Art Museum of Azerbaijan, where she curated major exhibitions and developed public programs. Rafiyeva has curated and co-curated projects at international biennales and cultural forums across Europe and the Middle East.
Rafiyeva’s practice explores collective memory, gender, and sonic/material storytelling. A UNESCO and IFA alumna, she holds degrees from France and Azerbaijan, and focuses on bridging traditional craft and critical discourse through cross-cultural, research-led art projects.
Konul Rafiyeva