Meet Lauren Chang

Lauren Chang spends her days spinning, dyeing, weaving and writing about textiles. For 15 years she worked as a textile conservator, helping institututions like the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution and the British Museum learn how to preserve their historical textiles.

Happily for us, she has since shifted gears and focuses on the making side. She works from the perspective of how her practice might shape the world in which we live.

How are you involved/collaborating with Wear Wool New London?
I get to play with all of the fibers.

What excites you about Wear Wool New London?
It is exciting to work with imaginative and innovative people to re-envision American textile production. It is a wonderful opportunity to stretch beyond the current beliefs of what is possible.

What is one idea that has fundamentally changed you/your life trajectory?
When I worked on my first artwork as a pre-program art conservation intern, a circuit was completed between my hands and my brain. Suddenly I could connect the physical touch with what I intellectually understood about that piece. From that point forward my way of being in the world grew exponentially in complexity and intensity.

What analog object or activity do you enjoy?
I spin, dye, and weave...that's all pretty analog! I am a runner. In my youth I ran to be fast. Now I run to clear the cobwebs in my head, lubricate the joints, and calm a restless spirit.

If you could live in another time period when/why?
I don't want to tempt fate by longing for another time, but I've always been fascinated by memory and its influence on the present.

What has living during a pandemic taught you?
In a few words...clarity and a long to-do list. More specifically, in the midst of pandemic isolation, I have spent many, many hours alone outside, encountering the world through my senses rather than language. During these heightened sensory experiences and verbal quiet, my focus turns to mutuality, reciprocity, and responsibility. There is a lot of work ahead to undo what has gotten us to this point in time.

Lauren with Coleburn, her trusty and much loved Cavalier

In one sentence your positive prediction or hope for the future.
I hope that during this challenging and rather dark period of our history we can each do some hard, internal scrutiny and take action that shifts our resources and re-balances power structures to ensure that this world—this planet—works for everyone.

Learn more about Lauren at her website Interstitial Spaces.

Community Profiles