Elena Daniel - Artist 

My practice explores the social, historical, and political dimensions of traditional craft within contemporary art. Working primarily with textiles—especially crochet, thread, and fabric—I use material processes as tools for examining collective memory, shared labour, and the ways in which making can operate as a form of social connection. I develop site-specific installations and collaborative projects that engage public space and community participation. The repetitive, time-based nature of craft is central to my methodology, allowing the work to unfold through accumulated gestures rather than singular authorship. In this context, textile becomes both medium and language: soft, flexible, and capable of carrying complex narratives tied to place, identity, and belonging. Collaboration is integral to my practice. By working with women and communities across generations and cultural boundaries, the work functions as a collective archive shaped by multiple hands and experiences. These processes challenge dominant, individual-centered art histories and foreground practices that have traditionally been marginalised or rendered invisible. My installations are often temporary and site-responsive, emphasising presence, process, and encounter over permanence. Through these works, I seek to propose alternative forms of coexistence and remembrance, where craft is reactivated as a contemporary, communal, and politically resonant practice.