The work of New York–based artist Annette Cords spans media, from works on paper through painting, installation and sculpture.For more than fifteen years, the artist has been producing a series of Jacquard tapestry pieces, which bring photography and contemporary digital tools together with traditional weaving processes. Inspired by the density of the urban environment, Cords’ work plays on the fragmentation and layering of text and imagery in the archaeology of urban signage, advertising, and graffiti.

The artist’s interest in lettering has extended from found imagery to her own experimentation with custom font design—which in turn becomes added to the mix in the drawings, gouache paintings, and abundant digital collages that form the basis of her tapestry works. Cutting and layering, desaturating and recoloring elements before transferring her designs to the loom, Cords translates color, texture, photographic sources, and text into a diverse range of woven materials including wool, cotton, mohair, and synthetic and metallic threads.

Rich with the vibrancy of opposing elements, the artist’s work represents both an innovative combination of contemporary technology and traditional processes, and a clever engagement with the Jacquard process, which famously presaged the digital era in its use of automated punch cards.

“I am inspired by the material culture of the city and the layered messages that coexist, amplify, and void each other in the built environment. I am interested in signage, typography, written words, and the visible mark of the hand, and I examine the interrelationship of visual-textual languages and the play between formal variation and the construction of meaning.” - Annette Cords