Benjamin Mengistu Navet (°1994, Addis-Abeba) grew up in France and studied Fashion Design at La Cambre (Brussels) and Textile Design at KASK School of Arts (Ghent). The main focus of the weavings and practice of Benjamin Mengistu Navet is the creation of a dialogue between industry and craftsmanship, in order to question the production process of objects. Based on Navet’s research in post-colonial practices in the field of fashion and textiles, he currently investigates his own Ethiopian background through pattern-making by combining traditional with industrial techniques. He approaches his practice as a laboratory where textile and garments enter in a dialogue or confrontation with other media and images.
“Whether it is handwoven, or industrially printed, straight from the industrial weaving machine, or revealed by hand dyes, whether it’s for a scenography that reveals the colonial trajectory of a fabric, the Ahmaric alphabet, crossing personal trajectories from diasporas with textile techniques, these embodied narratives are at the center of his research-based practice.”