SOMA: Archive of Breath

SOMA: Archive of Breath (2026) is a suspended textile and floor installation that explores the body as a site of memory, vulnerability, and transformation. Rather than depicting the human figure, the work evokes bodily presence through material, gesture, and spatial relationships.

Constructed from fragments of traditional Bosnian textiles, hand-spun wool, raw wool, soil, and pigment, the installation brings together materials marked by use, inheritance, and displacement. Hand stitching becomes an act of both rupture and repair, while the suspended textile and earth beneath it establish a dialogue between fragility, gravity, and belonging.

Large suspended textile installation made from stitched fabric fragments, with soil arranged on the floor beneath it. SOMA: Archive of Breath by Merima Smajlovic

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