‘The Foreign Gaze’: Textile Art & Photos by Kathy Knippel

 

If you are nostalgic for the old Florence, one alive with artisans, butchers, and streets filled with elegantly dressed Florentines, then Kathleen Knippel’s ‘The Foreign Gaze’ exhibition is the perfect journey back into that lost world. Running until the May 2 the show is open daily from 5 pm to 7.30 pm at Via Guelfa 49. 

After studying Art at California State University, Kathleen followed her boyfriend, fellow artist Tamio Fujimura, to Florence in 1973, where she has lived ever since. Together, they founded Studio Fuji, a school of textile design and jewellery, where they both worked and mentored their students. For more than 50 years, Kathleen also taught in American colleges and other study abroad programmes. 

Knippel is an artist through and through, balancing the worlds of photography and textile design. This exhibition showcases her work throughout from her career, from her early photographs of Florence, costumes for theatre productions, and commissioned quilted fabrics.

Upon stepping into the exhibition, photographs of 1970s Florence, plastered on every spare space in the rooms, immerse visitors in the life of that city. Authentic, un-staged photographs of Florentines getting along their daily routine, picking fruit from the market, weighing their cuts of meat, and window shopping, perfectly capture the reality of life and sense of community in the 1970s. 

As well as candid photos, Kathleen photographed shopkeepers and artisans, who posed, smiling ear-to-ear behind their counters. The tradesmen’s stained uniform and slightly dishevelled looks convey the spirit of hard work and expertise of these shopkeepers, who ran their family businesses with pride and unwavering dedication. 

Intricately designed and coloured textiles are dotted around the exhibition space, creating a vivid dialogue with the photographs. Scenes of artisans and shopkeepers alongside views from Kathleen’s former apartments have been meticulously transformed into textile form, down to the tiniest detail. Using the centuries-old technique of batik, vibrant colours and patterns add vivacity to the scenes that are only seen in black and white in the original photographs. 

Though based in Florence, Kathleen’s work has reached far beyond the city, appearing in showcases around the world, most notably at the Venice Carnival, where her elaborately designed costumes were celebrated for their theatrical flair. This show displays Kathleen’s striking carnival outfits that capture the same sense of spectacle and craftsmanship seen in her photographs. 

A highlight of the exhibition is the large, quilted piece of Piazza della Signoria. The Renaissance buildings, from Palazzo Vecchio and the Loggia dei Lanzi to Palazzo Uguzzioni, have been reimagined in richly textured fabric that captures the grandeur of Renaissance architects. Every detail, including the various colours of the facades, and the number of windowpanes, have been carefully rendered with remarkable precision.  

Textile miniatures of wine bottles, fruit and other pieces completed during her college days are also on display. Photographs of Kathleen’s life-size red Volkswagen textile reinterpretation, now in the Volkswagen Museum in New Jersey, demonstrate the scale and ambition of her work.