radical animism: you breathe, i breathe, it breathes

This textile project explores Radical Animism as both a way of thinking and a design attitude that has gradually become clearer and more central within my practice. Radical animism invites a fundamental shift in how we relate to objects—and to textiles in particular—by approaching them not as passive materials, but as sentient entities with their own agency, value, and place within a broader material and ecological network.

Inspired by phenomenological philosophy, the object-oriented ontology, and more specifically by Jemma Deer’s Radical Animism: Reading for the End of the World, as well as by my own experiences, I began to question the dominant, human-centered mindset that shapes contemporary design and consumption. Radical animism proposes an alternative gaze: one in which objects and garments are understood as active participants in the world, rather than inert tools subjected solely to human intention. Much like humans, they carry a form of soul, memory, and influence.

This perspective is deeply connected to my personal history. Through garments and analog photographs of my nonna, I observed how objects from the past often possess an aura—an energy shaped by time, use, memory, and loss. Concepts such as “vintage” or heirlooms reveal how emotional value is often assigned retrospectively. But what if this significance did not only emerge over time? What if it were already embedded in the design, perception, and use of new garments?

Under the metaphor “dritto, rovescio”—an essential property of textiles—I propose a radical reorientation of our gaze. The wrong side of a garment reveals what is usually hidden: traces of making, invisible labor, material history, and time. Turning something inside out becomes both a literal and conceptual act: an invitation to acknowledge what we tend to overlook.

This project was developed during my second bachelor year in Textile Design at KASK and resulted in an immersive exhibition where sound, light, video, and tactile textiles come together in an emotional installation. It consists of two interconnected parts: dritto, rovescio (first semester) and You Breathe, I Breathe, It Breathes (second semester).