Artist Malaika Temba's Jacquard Weavings Explore Memory and Trade.

7 hours ago7 min read2 comments

In her London studio, surrounded by the rhythmic clatter of the loom, artist Malaika Temba works with threads that are far more than simple material; they are carriers of history. 'Whether I am working on a small weaving or a large-scale installation,' Temba reflects, her hands pausing over the intricate Jacquard mechanism, 'I am always asking what materials remember and who gets remembered through them.' This central question drives her practice, transforming textiles into profound explorations of memory, community, and the often-invisible currents of global trade. Her work is deeply personal, drawing from her Tanzanian and British heritage, and each piece becomes a tactile archive.The cotton she uses might whisper of colonial plantations and the transatlantic routes that shaped economies and families, while the synthetic dyes speak to modern industrial supply chains. Temba doesn’t just create portraits; she weaves genealogies, embedding faces and patterns that challenge the historical silence surrounding African contributions to art and commerce.She speaks of the loom itself as a kind of ancestral computer, its punch cards a precursor to binary code, a technology that once revolutionized production but also displaced artisan weavers. In her hands, this same technology is reclaimed, used to meticulously craft images that honor the individual rather than erase them.There’s a quiet, powerful conversation happening in her studio—a dialogue between the tactile past and the digital present, between personal lineage and collective history. Observing her process is like watching someone patiently reassemble a fragmented story, thread by thread, until a complex, beautiful, and undeniable truth emerges from the warp and weft.

#featured

#Malaika Temba

#Jacquard weaving

#textile art

#material memory

#contemporary art

#portraiture

Stay Informed. Act Smarter.

Get weekly highlights, major headlines, and expert insights — then put your knowledge to work in our live prediction markets.