Current Residents Lara Salous
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in front of 'What remains' Artwork
A multidisciplinary artist, Lara Salous explores the contemporary revival of raw wool and traditional textiles in Palestinian interiors. Her practice bridges architecture, material research, and socially engaged art, focusing on the hidden knowledge embedded in wool as a cultural and tactile material. Sparked by an encounter with a Bedouin weaving community, her work investigates the fading presence of this heritage craft. Through self-initiated research and experimentation, she examines wool’s historical, ecological, and political relevance. Holding degrees from Birzeit University and the University of Westminster, Lara exhibits internationally, proposing narratives for textile-making as a vessel for memory, land, and identity.
During my HIAP residency, I plan to connect with artists, designers, and local craft centers to explore Finnish furniture traditions and woven textiles, particularly those rooted in local craftsmanship. I will continue my Borderless Weaves series—an intuitive, free-form wool practice that investigates materiality, memory, and land. Alongside this, I’ll delve deeper into my research on the weaving history of Al-Majdal, Palestine, tracing its cultural loss and potential reactivation. By engaging with both Finnish and Palestinian textile narratives, I aim to open a cross-cultural dialogue through material, form, and process.