Cultural memory, identity, sense of place, surveillance and urban life are all interwoven like the threads of a carpet in a new exhibition at The Art & History Museums of Maitland.
“A loom, a fence, a wire, a thread” marks the first solo museum exhibition for Mär Martinez, a UCF alum now living in New York, who expands on ideas she explored during her 2021-2023 studio residency at the Maitland museum. The new body of work draws inspiration from traditional Turkish and Middle Eastern textile practices and was developed during her 2024-2025 Fulbright research in Istanbul.
In her work, Martinez weaves together her Cuban and Syrian heritage, finding strength in the symbolism of carpets her family brought with them as they fled Syria.
“They became not just visual symbols, but symbols of resilience and resistance,” said Dan Hess, the museum’s chief curator. “She’s thinking of all these displaced peoples that are moving from one place to another. The rug, for her, is this home that they take with them and lay it down in a new place, and that’s their home again.”
The paintings incorporate scenes Martinez witnessed during nighttime walks through Istanbul, contemplating the boundaries and borders created by the city’s barriers, amid political unrest and oppression. The experience had Martinez thinking about her own relationship with home.
“A loom, a fence, a wire, a thread” is the first solo museum exhibition by Mär Martinez at the Art & History Museums of Maitland. (Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel)
“One of the things I was thinking about was resiliency and strength that can be sourced by turning inward on a cultural memory. To make a carpet, you’re wrapping a thread endlessly upon itself. It does create something with standing, and that has been an important ongoing theme for me,” she said. “Even though these objects are under great tension, they gain survivability because of this wrapping around itself. I think it’s really cool these textiles have been able to survive regime changes and linguistic shifts. They’ve moved through time with us today.”
Martinez’s previous body of work involved painting wooden cutouts, including ones resembling carpets, to show textiles ripped away from their context. The new exhibit features paintings on unstretched canvases, hung on the wall like rugs. Part of this was born out of necessity when working with limited materials.
“A loom, a fence, a wire, a thread” is the first solo museum exhibition by Mär Martinez at the Art & History Museums of Maitland. The paintings were inspired by the textures and textiles of the Middle East. (Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel)
“Much like a rug, I could roll the paintings up, pack them with me and take them across the country and then across the ocean,” Martinez said. “That’s literally what my family did when they were fleeing Syria with a lot of the textiles they brought with them. They rolled them up and took them on their backs.”
Each painting has a luminous quality to it, with figures and textiles seeming to glow from within. While some canvases feature just fencing and textile patterns, others incorporate hands and figures, sometimes in vulnerable moments. The fine and tedious brush strokes evoke the practice of weaving, working in small lines to build a greater whole.
“A wire, a thread” contrasts textiles, barbed wire and mass-produced garments by Mär Martinez at the Art & History Museums of Maitland. (Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel)
As visitors walk through the exhibition, the middle gallery is painted and lit to represent Martinez’s nighttime walks through Istanbul. In the final gallery of the show, a painting titled “A conversation on a bottom of a hill about the top of a mountain” shows determination in the face of adversity and uncontrollable circumstances.
“She’s thinking, ‘How do I become immovable with everything going on in the world?’” Hess said. “For her, wanting to become a mountain, I think, is a really kind of interesting way to leave the show. It’s almost like people can follow her career and see what comes next.”
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“A loom, a fence, a wire, a thread” is the first solo museum exhibition by Mär Martinez at the Art & History Museums of Maitland. The paintings were created during time abroad in Istanbul. (Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel)
If you go
“A loom, a fence, a wire, a thread” has a free opening reception from 6:30-9 p.m. April 24 featuring the artist, music by DJ Nigel John, La Patrona Tacos & Birria House food truck and a cash bar at 231 West Packwood Ave. in Maitland. The show is on display through July 5. The museum is open from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday. Tickets are $5-$6 or free for local college students, military personnel, veterans and Maitland residents. More information: artandhistory.org