In Her Place with Briena Harmening

Briena Harmening combines humor, critique, and Southern identity in her textile works. She sews, quilts, screen prints, even burns text on to nostalgic materials like quilts, kaftans, tarps, and tablecloths. Her pieces play with word spacing, repetition, and masking, creating visual puzzles that challenge how viewers process text. Harmening’s work is rooted in Southern vernacular and storytelling and draws from familial sayings, regional politics, and the complexities of inherited traditions. Raised in Tennessee by a grandmother who was a seamstress and a mother who was a needleworker, she considers her work a collaboration with the women who originally crafted the textiles she deconstructs and reimagines.