Text/ile (Text/íll) is a research project exploring Icelandic words through textile.

textíll (n.) → Latin textilia (n., “woven fabric”) → Latin texo (v., “to weave”)

texti (n.) → Latin textus (past participle, “woven”) → Latin texo (v., “to weave”)

The project explores the origins of Icelandic words and the meanings held within them.

A collection of textile works interprets a selection of Icelandic words, attempting to capture something of their original, literal meaning. The words are small in form, yet carry ideas much larger than themselves.

Textile became a way of reflecting on the nature of language itself. Words, like threads, become entangled. They are woven together into sentences, meanings, and sometimes entirely new words.

A new word carries traces of what came before it, just as a piece of woven material carries evidence of its own making. One word grows from another, much like a stitch follows the thread back to its beginning.

With time, however, the original meaning of a word can recede. Its roots become less visible, while the word’s present form becomes what we encounter and understand.

We rarely stop to consider what lies beneath.

But what is a word without its root?
What is a stitch without its beginning?

The words interpreted in the project are presented in sequence, corresponding with the accompanying images.