Santa Cruz River
2017

• Alexandra KEHAYOGLOU

Buenos Aires–based artist and designer Alexandra Kehayoglou uses hand-tufted wool rugs to draw into focus landscapes under threat of irreversible change. Her powerful works merge traditional rug-making techniques with detailed site analysis, drone footage and photography. Santa Cruz River, 2016–17, documents the proposed site of two major hydroelectricity dams on the Santa Cruz River in Argentina – the last free- owing wild river in the country. These dams, part of an international nance and infrastructure negotiation between the Argentine and Chinese governments, draw into focus the tensions within globalisation; Argentina’s accelerating demand for international investment and infrastructure is pitted against politically controversial and potentially irrevocable consequences for the natural ecosystem. The development of the carpet has been conducted in parallel with close monitoring of the planning of the dams: although the construction was suspended by Argentina’s Supreme Court in January 2017, a government-sponsored environmental impact study released in July defended the sustainability of the infrastructural works, making official approval more likely. Kehayoglou is careful to define herself as an artist and designer, not as a political activist as such. This role implies a specific set of responsibilities in which the exploration of the traditions, craft and expressive power of carpet-making is paramount.