International Threads: Origins Virtual Lecture Series

Textile art serves as a vibrant thread weaving together diverse communities and cultural expressions across the world.

The artists featured in the Origins Lecture Series– Saroop Soofi (Pakistan), Wipoosana Supanakorn (Thailand), and Claudia Huenchuleo Paquien (Mapuche community of Chile)— demonstrate that textile practices are constantly evolving, reflecting both tradition and innovation. Registration will include all three virtual lectures, and the links and recordings will be sent to registered participants. We also invite you to see their work in the Origins exhibition, on display at Visions Museum of Textile Art from October 24, 2026 to January 16, 2027.

Saroop Soofi: An Archive of Absence

Date: Saturday, November 21, 2026 Time: 11-12pm PST

Saroop Soofi is a Pakistani-Canadian multidisciplinary artist. Working across textiles, sculpture, and installation, she investigates ecological erasure, migration, and cultural memory. Drawing upon South Asian vernacular aesthetics, mythological histories, and material archives, her practice considers how textiles function as repositories of knowledge, carrying stories of endangered species and disappearing languages.

Wipoosana Supanakorn: Painting Before Weaving: Exploring Color and Threads

Date: Saturday, December 12, 2026 Time: 9-10am PST

Wipoosana Supanakorn (Bangkok, Thailand, b. 1975) will discuss his artistic practice and how his painting background led him to explore weaving as a way of creating art. He will share about his process of painting cotton threads before weaving, and the ideas and techniques behind his artwork currently on display in the Origins exhibition.

Supanakorn has always innovated, pushing boundaries of expression to new depths, and inventing techniques through his exploration of principles of fine art, application of various media, examination of expression, and a deep concern for the cultural benefit of all peoples in a society. His work is unique insofar as the inspiration is very much from his immediate surroundings and culture.

Claudia Huenchuleo Paquien: Explorations of Memory: A Conversation with Origins Artist, Claudia Huenchuleo Paquien

Date: Friday, January 8, 2027 Time: 11-12pm PST

Claudia Huenchuleo Paquien will discuss how her culture, academic background, and memory intertwine to influence her textile art practice. She is a San Francisco-based Mapuche visual artist whose work engages with the autobiographical archive and Indigenous critical theory to interrogate contemporary indigeneity. Integrating her background as a psychologist (Chile, 1995) with an MFA from SFSU (2022), Huenchuleo Paquien uses fiber to articulate relational, and historical memory.