If you were to pull on one thread of one of contemporary artist Adrian Pepe’s luscious tapestry, you would unravel stories leading from the traditions of our closest ancestors all the way to Paleolithic times.
Adrian came to Lebanon, a juncture on the silk road, ten years ago, for a few months he thought, but got held up by a particular animal, the Awassi sheep, raised on the slopes of Anti-Lebanon mountains, in Arsal. This breed of sheep has been living in the region for more than five thousand years across what are now Iraq, Saudi Arabia or Turkey. ‘There are mentions of this particular sheep in Sumerian tablets and Abrahamic religions books,’ he says. The desert animal’s thick tail holds fat that allows it to withstand arid climate. Awassi sheeps tell tales of the nomadic people that lived in these areas in synch with the rhythm of nature. Even before that time, reminds Adrian, animals were at the center of people’s lives and livelihood, from hunter gatherers and the development of agriculture, those ruminants (which share a root with ‘ruminate’, i.e. think deeply about something), were part of major human innovations. Ultimately, it is this entangled relationship of nature and humans; us taming animals and caring for them, and animals providing for us and framing our lives, that Adrian weaves in his art.
Adrian recalled his first art project exploring hair, a human produced fiber which holds so much information about the person and culture it belongs to. Over the years, his curiosity for natural fibers from sentient providers drove him to root his art in the living breathing world. To create his pieces, Adrian focuses on the most ancient form of textile making, felting. After shearing season in spring, he starts a physically intensive meditative process of giving structure to raw fibers, removing oils and sediments, combing, rolling then spinning or making felt. He sometimes embroiders a tale he comes upon; shepherd fables, geometric symbols or tribal motifs. The artist only uses natural ochre for coloring, the first color pigment used by humankind, which produces a palette from yellow to deep red, fine-tuning the concentration of the dye to reach his desired shade. 'There are approximately half a million Awassi sheeps grazing in Lebanon, producing over one thousand ton of wool, he says, and most of it is discarded.' In Arsal, one man is already trying to create insulation material for refugee camps with it. Adrian sees the opportunity this wool could bring to Lebanon and works hand in hand with local farmers and producers to explore its potentiality. From a commercial standpoint, the material could be used to make carpets, for mattress stuffing or for clothing blended with a softer wool or chemically altered. Perpetually exploring, Adrian already has in mind his next destination: tracing the lineage of sheep in Oaxaca, Mexico to unravel the impact of colonial exchanges which brought merino wool to the region.
Credits photos 2 & 3: Marie Ravn
Credits photo 4: Dia Mrad
