I Woke Up Early to Comb the World

The backstrap loom, Ascoli’s primary instrument, is a weaving tool that does not require standalone equipment. Instead, it uses the body and the surrounding environment as its supports. Featuring a belt on one end to be worn around the weaver’s waist and a rope on the other to be attached to existing architecture, this technology demonstrates the central role the body plays in Ascoli’s practice. In setting up the backstrap loom for weaving, the warp is combed before any other components are set up. This meticulous act of separating thread by thread slowly reveals the design of the weave; an act of care similar to a mother combing their child’s hair. Over the years, Ascoli has collected a variety of combs, ranging from valuable antiques to disposable plastics. Sometimes she weaves into them to sketch a color combination or to keep her hands busy. Ascoli’s installation work I Woke Up Early to Comb the World is composed of a series of these woven combs, arranged on a table in a comb-like structure that references the artist’s body proportions. When arranged together, this collection speaks to the artist’s interest in care and repair, but also reveals tensions and complicated arrangements. The work takes weaving as both material and metaphor for considerations of the body’s parameters, its place, intentions, and connectedness.