WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE no9 (2023), 48 x 72 inches. All images courtesy of Tia Keobounpheng, shared with permissionTia Keobounphengs Vibrating Textile Geometries Merge Modernism and Smi HeritageMarch 27, 2025ArtCraftKate MothesTia Keobounpheng learned to weave during a visit to Oulu, Finland, when she was 18 years old. Seated beside two older Finnish women in a community weaving center, she worked for hours, hardly speaking a word. Two decades later, following university studies in weaving, architecture, and design, the Minnesota-based artists memory of her first lesson connects her to her ancestral land and its time-honored craft traditions.On wood panels, Keobounpheng weaves colorful threads to create precise geometries in vibrating color. She says, My exploration into geometry coincided with learning that in my known familial histories, there was a suppressed Smi lineage through my great-grandmothers line, thereby completely changing the narrative of our Finnish heritage.Detail of THREADS no6The Smi people of northern Norway,Sweden,Finland, and RussiasKola Peninsula are an Indigenous group with their own unique languages and a traditional, semi-nomadic livelihood that includes practices like reindeer and sheep herding, coastal fishing,and fur trapping.Historically, as the Scandinavians remained mostly south and Smi communities lived in the north, contact was uncommon. But by the 19th century, Scandinavian governments began to assert sovereignty over the north, targeting the Smi, who were increasingly viewed as primitive or backward. Their language was outlawed and many cultural customs suppressed as they were forced to assimilate into Scandinavian society.During the pandemic, Keobounpheng was helping her son during a distance-learning 4th-grade geometry class, and a particular phrase caught her attention. Geo means earth, so geometry is just measuring the earth, the teacher said.These words changed my worldview and reminded me that underneath rigid linear laws, an entire foundation of forgotten circular consciousness exists, the artist says. Aside from the powerful conceptual connections I was able to draw from geometry as a visual language to understand and express a circular, expansive worldview, the physical motions of spinning the compass awakened something deep within me.THREADS no6 (202), 24 x 18 inchesKeobounphengs compositions are both exact and interwoven, as shapes blend into other shapes, neither fully independent nor simply an all-over pattern. She describes the physicality of moving a needle and thread back and forth through paper or wood as a means of metaphorically stitching this worldview into her muscle memory.The artists father was a self-trained architect, and from him, she adopted a modernist lens. Robert Motherwell, Mark Rothko, and Josef and Anni Albers were early favorites of mine in my teen and young adult years, she tells Colossal. These days, Agnes Martin, Hilma af Klint, and Smi artist Outi Pieski are my anchors of inspiration.Each piece requires initial planning to map the geometry, drill holes, select the color palette, and begin threading a black-and-white framework. But often, all of my best intentions or visions for what the work will be start to loosen and sometimes fly away, she says. There is always a point, with every piece, where I must surrender my plan and give way to the threads.The artists work will be on view in Weinstein Hammons Gallerys booth at EXPO Chicago at the end of April. She is also currently participating inNordic Echoes Tradition in Contemporary ArtatScandinavia House, which runs from April 5 to August 2 in New York City and also includes work by Sonja Peterson. Find more on Keobounphengs website and Instagram.THREADS no19 (2024), 16 x 16 inchesWHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE no15 (2024), 24 x 18 inchesTHREADS no25 (2025)Detail of THREADS no25THREADS no18 (2024), 16 x 16 inchesTHREADS no7 (2022), 24 x 18 inchesCIRCLE ROUND no5 (2023), 12 x 12 inchesWHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE no13 (2024), 96 x 48 inchesReverse of THREADS no25Next article