Materials For The Arts Presents UNRAVELING THREADS A New Exhibition

Materials for the Arts will present “Unraveling Threads,” a new solo exhibition by MFTA Artist-in-Residence Borinquen Gallo in the MFTA Gallery. Through the exhibition, Gallo manipulates found materials such as caution tape, found flowers, electrical wires, and plastic bags to create enormous tapestries with lush textural weavings exploring themes of community, culture, resistance, womanhood, and the joys and struggles inherent within our identities.

Born and raised in Rome, Italy to a Puerto Rican mother and Italian father, Gallo's world shifted dramatically when she moved to the South Bronx at 13 years old with her Catholic missionary family. As she navigated her new life and layered cultural identity, art became her refuge. By repurposing found materials into art, Gallo not only discovered beauty in her surroundings but also challenged traditional notions of what is deemed valuable or disposable.

“MFTA's Artist-in-Residence program nurtures artists whose use of repurposed materials is both eye opening and inspiring, and Borinquen Gallo's ‘Unraveling Threads' is an amazing example of this creative spirit,” said NYC Department of Cultural Affairs Commissioner Laurie Cumbo. “I encourage all New Yorkers to visit this remarkable exhibition and discover how MFTA is reshaping the artistic landscape and fostering a cleaner, greener, more creative New York City.”

“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,” said Borinquen Gallo. “Manipulating found materials that are often unregistered and relegated to the periphery of our consciousness becomes a sort of superpower, a way to highlight the invisible.”

“We are always looking for a uniqueness in an artist's approach to creative reuse and we found this in Borinquen's practice,” said MFTA Executive Director Tara Sansone. “When I first visited Borinquen's studio, my colleagues and I were mesmerized by her breathtaking, intricate weavings of caution tape and found objects. We knew right away that she would be an incredible artist for our program. Soon after her arrival to Materials for the Arts, the universe brought a serendipitous donation of enough caution tape to fuel Borinquen's practice throughout her residency—a perfect convergence of timing and materials."

The works in “Unraveling Threads” are the result of Gallo's labor-intensive method of weaving found objects through debris netting. Through this painstaking process materials are morphed and reconfigured into intricate weavings displacing the familiar into the surprising, ultimately acting as visual metaphors for broader personal and socio-cultural struggles.

In the piece “Silverlining,” Gallo explores Afro-textured hair and her own identity through an installation made of coiled Brillo pads. In “Fertile Grounds,” she uses caution tape to create expansive marsupial pockets that hold plants, symbolizing the womb and reflecting her own experiences of motherhood and fertility. In “Tiger against Tiger,” Gallo explores polarization, conflict, and resistance. The woven caution tape serves as a unifying thread throughout her work, simultaneously warning about and evoking layered meanings and experiences that ultimately remind us of the shared human connections that bind us together.

Through her meditative and deliberate practice, Gallo commands attention to her work whose intricate weavings amass colossal proportions. The work is marked by an emphasis on process, pointing to a search for physical and spiritual presence, providing space for reflection and connection to her interior self when she weaves alone, and to others when she weaves collaboratively.

The physical engagement entailed in weaving is full of longing and hope, purpose and expectation, but is simultaneously marked by exhaustion, and angst charged with the tension of performing a seemingly impossible task. For Gallo, the art is in the doing, and the work is never done. 

“Unraveling Threads” is on view at Materials for the Arts through May 8, 2025. The MFTA Gallery, located in the MFTA Warehouse at 33-00 Northern Boulevard, Long Island City, Queens welcomes visitors Monday through Friday from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm. Admission to this exhibition is free and open to the public. 

For over a decade, MFTA's Artist-in-Residence program has supported artists who incorporate reuse into their creative practice, offering them free studio space, a stipend, and access to The Warehouse's vast collection of donated materials. These resources have fueled New York City's arts community since 1978.

Each MFTA artist residency culminates in a solo exhibition at the MFTA Gallery, which inspires thousands of educators, students, artists, nonprofits, and social service organizations. Visitors are encouraged to explore the creative potential of nontraditional materials and discover how these objects can transform into art.