Fabric Heals: Analyzing Conceptual Textile Work at a Beirut-Based Art School

Abstract The growing literature about the healing impact of textile work often focuses on process; What happens as fabric is managed and how does this regulate emotions? In this paper, the author adopts a different approach, searching for healing possibilities on the surface of textile pieces made by students at her art studio in Beirut. Using semiotic analysis and emotion theories borrowed from psychology and communication, the author finds that design decisions, from the choice of background to the choice of color and stitch, possess significant healing potentials. This seems true even when the makers live in troubled environments such as the Lebanese capital. The impact of using yarn, hooks and needles in artisanal textile work has been widely evidenced through research. It is time, the author concludes, that the importance of conceptual work, where design thinking is heavily involved, be acknowledged.