Known for her public sculptures and large-scale museum installations, Hassan offers an intimate glimpse into her practice in Lineal, where framed drawings are displayed next to delicate cut outs and mixed media woven installations. With this collection of artworks, Hassan experiments with familiar materials and technical studies in new ways, resulting in a process-centered ode to the craft of knitting, its communal properties, labor, and memory.
"I am drawn to the small details and moments that shape my work, exploring what happens when I take things apart and weave them back together at different scales and with different materials. Much like memory itself, parts shift, repeat, and form new patterns." - Hassan
Tangle, an installation that combines tiny canvases of hyper realistic open mouths connected by one woven tapestry, speaks to our collective nature. We are encouraged to consider language, voice, and the tangled words that we weave in and out of our shared communication. This artwork presents a sense of togetherness and collective understanding.
Hassan’s framed drawings represent stitches coming together and/or apart. She draws these varied stitches from memory, centering memory as a source material which further emphasizes an intimacy and dedication to the tradition of knitting, which was taught to her by her mother and represents a long lineage of devotion to the craft by the women in her family. Upon a second glance, these sketches also have a likeness to gauze: the woven structure used for mending physical wounds. This is no coincidence, as Hassan intentionally considers themes of protection, care and repair.
Recent experimentations in her practice have resulted in paper cut outs of knitting drawings, and their reliefs. These forms directly resemble the detailed loops created from machine knitting, which was a method acquired by the artist when attempting to scale-up in production. Recounting these forms, also by memory, highlights the labor and perfectionism connected to the practice of knitting. By enlarging these microscopic details into larger forms, cutting them out, and weaving them back together, Hassan draws parallels between her intrigue in knitting patterns, post-production, and the continuing notion of mending or repair.
"The repetitive motions of my imagined drawings follow the quiet rules of knitting, each line shaped by the repetition of a single stitch, a rhythm symbolizing both attention and the passage of time." - Hassan
Presenting these artworks along a narrow hallway augments the themes Hassan wants to highlight in this body of work. Hallways represent a liminal space, and mending happens with time. Hallways can also represent straight paths, when we know that often the journey is more tangled (or woven) than direct. The nonlinearity of in between or liminal spaces – or times of great collective transition – can be hazy, like memory. However, when focusing on the process and collective labor, mending is possible.
Lineal by Rania Hassan is on display at The Silva Gallery x Latela Curatorial September 5 – December 28, 2025. Located at The Silva DC: 1630 Columbia Rd NW, Washington, DC 20009. Open Mon-Sat 10am-5pm and Sun noon-5pm. A public reception will be held for the artist on Friday, September 5th from 6-8pm. All artwork displayed is available for purchase. Inquiries should be directed to studio@lateladc.com