Oomblikke by Lené Ehlers at Chandler House

WORDS Cheri Morris

Chandler House presents Lené Ehlers’ very first solo exhibition, Oomblikke – a graphic/illustrative-cum-painterly collection inspired by suzanis, the enrapturing embroideries of Uzbekistan and Central Asia, and full fruits of the season.

With roots in the eighteenth/nineteenth centuries and ancient tradition, having survived suppression under the Soviet Union, suzanis are more than just pieces of uniquely mesmerising cloth work. They are intimate familial and spiritual relations made visible; sigil-like expressions that weave the stories of love between mother and daughter, husband and wife, friends and kin, person and prayer.

For Lené, what started off as a more graphic and illustrative exhibition soon flourished into a more painterly and informed one after an introduction to the world of suzanis. She spent weeks with a private collection of these tribal textiles, allowing the designs – each as distinct as its creator’s story – to prompt a dialogue between weaving brush strokes and the cutting, collaging and layering of paperwork.

The result? Oomblikke is Lené’s new-found love for ancient motifs and patterns; an invitation to viewers to celebrate suzanis and her take on their intuitive and fleeting moments of abundant colour, form and pattern.

The exhibition runs at Chandler House’s Voorkramer Gallery until the 3rd of May 2022. To see more of Lené’s work, check out the Q&A we did with her here.