mending ways 

Emma Allain, Jennifer Anorue & Kateryna Kostelna, Chris Chrysler, Antoinette Karuna, Narmin Kassam, Kellyann Marie, Abby Nowakowski, and Jasper Lyon Wicke

Cultivate Art Commons
9 May–18 July 2026

 

Mending is a process through which we repair interpersonal rifts and physical damage. To intentionally repair requires attention, vulnerability, and embodiment. As an act of service, mending can be collaborative and reciprocal. In a world of increasing division, political polarization, and conflict, how do we reconnect with one another to heal? 

Mending Ways explores how mending practices can be used to repair our relationships, cultures, and societies—and even ourselves.

We Tend Together, community-sized heat bag made up of upcycled fabric and toasted rice and community-sized handmade tea bags filled with sweet aromatic tea blends, 2026

We Tend Together is about mending our bodies, the aches and pains caused by labour. The larger piece is a blanket-sized heat bag quilt, sewn with dreamscape applications and built-in rice to warm from within. The two smaller works are community-sized tea bags that contain calming herbal blends held together in gampi paper, with floral cutouts.

As someone who chronically over works my body and voice, I turn to heat bags and tea to heal my sore muscles from contorting my posture, reduce the constant tension from anxiety, and treat my sore throat.

Instead of a heat bag for one, I wanted to create a blanket that can collectively mend many bodies, together healing. As for the tea bags, these oversized satchels filled with herbal tea blends are designed to brew enough tea for a large gathering. Both textiles have aromatic elements to them: the heat bag smells like a warmed magic bag, and the tea bags smell of sweet tea leaves like wild chamomile, sage, and lavender. With these works, I’m exploring how caring for ourselves in communal spaces can have impacts on how others access and normalize care. What can it look like to mend our bodies en masse.

Photo credit: Abby Nowakowski