In person / Exhibition / Dyeing
Soil to Surface highlights the creations of small-scale women farmers, women’s cooperatives, and internationally recognized designers from Türkiye, alongside the work of School of Art and Design students, faculty, and alumni at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). Proposing an alternative framework where farmers, craftspeople, and designers operate on equal ground, the exhibition sees the FIT community actively reimagining these materials for contemporary design through technical experimentation and innovative thinking.
Agricultural waste and local textile materials are repositioned in a contemporary context, allowing multiple narratives to emerge across time and geographies, while creating new paths for creative businesses to be local, sustainable, and value-driven.
Central to this process are women farmers and women’s cooperatives in Türkiye, whose knowledge, labor, creativity, and lived experience have transformed agricultural byproducts into new material possibilities. Their relationship with the land has been cultivated across generations. Working with pomegranate peels, walnut husks, nettle leaves, onion skins, bay leaves, and barley straw, they transform these materials into plant-based dyes, paperlike surfaces, and handcrafted embellishments. By integrating agricultural production with artistic practice, Soil to Surface challenges conventional hierarchies and suggests a more inclusive and socially just model for creative collaboration.
The exhibition opens on Thursday, September 24 and is on view at the FIT Art and Design Gallery through November 1, 2026.
The Art and Design Gallery at FIT showcases the work of students, faculty, and distinguished alumni, as well as invited guest artists and collaborators. It is a window into the College and a window out. The exhibition spaces serve as a place to foster learning and innovation.