Exhibition Opening: “Unraveling Threads” by Borinquen Gallo

“Extrapolating beauty in unexpected places is a way for me to feel at home, to feel safe as I nomadically inhabit and navigate different spaces and places,” shared MFTA Artist-in-Residence Borinquen Gallo about her creative practice. Born and raised in Italy, Gallo’s world perspective shifted dramatically when she moved to the Bronx at thirteen years old. Navigating her new life and distinct cultural identity, Gallo turned to art as an outlet, later developing into her career.  

Gallo takes everyday, inconsequential debris and robust construction materials such as trash bags, plastic netting, and caution tape, to create gargantuan tapestries with lush textural weavings. Inciting feelings of uncanny familiarity, Gallo’s work disrupts conventional assumptions about what we consider valuable or discardable.

Through her meditative and deliberate practice, Gallo commands attention to her work whose intricate weavings amass colossal proportions. For Gallo, the art is in the doing, and the work is never done. 

Gallo’s “Unraveling Threads” will formally open at the Materials for the Arts gallery on Thursday, February 20, 2025, from 6:30pm to 8:30pm.