Roda Medhat's 'From the Loom' Merges Digital Fabrication with Kurdish Textile Traditions

Toronto-based Kurdish artist Roda Medhat presents 'From the Loom,' a solo exhibition at Abbozzo Gallery in Toronto, running through May 26. The show features large-scale sculptures, textile works, and neon installations that blend digital fabrication and 3D scanning with traditional West Asian textiles. Medhat's practice explores how stories are carried and translated into synthetic languages. Key works include 'The Sheep and the Chevrolet,' a 3D-printed sculpture of a sheep atop a Chevrolet, reimagining François Balsan's problematic 1947 ethnographic travelogue. Images from Kurdish children's books—boys riding horses and interacting with nature—are woven into textiles using an electronic Jacquard machine. The exhibition also includes glowing light-based works encased in glass or acrylic, reminiscent of patterned Kurdish rugs. Medhat's work subverts archival materials and traditional narratives, offering contemporary reconceptualizations of Kurdish culture.