The language of touch: Olga de Amaral at ICA Miami

Amaral, now 92, has spent more than six decades transforming fiber into something both luminous and grounded. With gold, thread, and horsehair, she has built a personal language shaped by repetition and touch. In her retrospective at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, this devotion to the hand is everywhere. It lives in the linen stitched with precious metals, in the dense texture of the horsehair panels, and in dyed threads that hang from above.

Brumas and the vertical forest

At the top of the stairs, the gallery opens into a space that feels alive and reverent. Light pours in through floor-to-ceiling windows that frame a canopy of trees, grounding the experience in something distinctly natural. Suspended in the center are the Brumas, a series Amaral created between 2013 and 2018. Made from dyed threads arranged in delicate geometric formations, they seem to rain color onto the viewer. As you walk around them, the pieces shift. From some angles, they dissolve into air. From others, they appear solid, almost architectural.

Architect Lina Ghotmeh designed the exhibition as a vertical forest, and the idea resonates. The layout encourages slow movement and allows each piece to breathe. Though smaller than the original version presented by the Fondation Cartier in Paris, the Miami exhibition feels purposeful and personal. The arrangement of works doesn’t follow a timeline, but instead moves through color, material, and mood, offering a thoughtful glimpse into Amaral’s range.

Estelas and ancient echoes

Some of Amaral’s most powerful pieces appear at the far end of the gallery, where Estelas are installed. These tall, gold-leafed panels are placed directly opposite the Brumas, creating a quiet dialogue across the space. Where the Brumas are light and airy, the Estelas feel grounded and monumental. The surfaces seem ancient, as though excavated from a sacred site. From a distance, they resemble doors or tombs. Up close, they reveal cracked textures of plaster and gold. The pieces call to mind the ceremonial goldwork of pre-Columbian Colombia. Their vertical weight is reminiscent of the mountains outside Bogotá, where light holds against the hills.

For much of Amaral’s career, weaving was seen as craft: decorative, domestic, and rarely given space in contemporary museums. That is starting to change. Over the last decade, institutions, collectors, and luxury brands have begun to revalue the handmade. Fashion houses are investing in artisan workshops. Major museums are acquiring textile-based work and giving it the space once reserved for painting or sculpture exhibitions, as seen in the exhibitionWeaving Abstraction in Ancient and Modern Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which reflects this shift.

This broader shift toward valuing materials and care is reshaping how we see work like Amaral’s. Bottega Veneta’s recent campaign, Craft is our Language, taps into that conversation, positioning craftsmanship as both luxury and legacy. Amaral was speaking a language of touch long before it became a slogan. Her devotion to process, to touch, to materials that carry memory has never wavered. She has spent decades turning what was once dismissed as decorative into an art form that is structural, immersive, and deeply intellectual.

An enduring language of touch

That long-standing devotion is part of what makes the exhibition feel timely. In a moment that’s revaluing the handmade, Amaral’s work feels relevant and enduring. She has spent a lifetime turning touch into form, memory, and structure. In the quiet of the gallery, you’re reminded that it all begins with the hand: hers, and those that came before her.

Olga de Amaral remembers her mother running her hand over a thick ruana, the wool mantle worn in the mountains of her native Colombia, with a reverence many reserve for prayer. “She would run her hand over them,” Amaral once said, “and the materials would come into direct contact with her skin.” That image stayed with her. 

Amaral, now 92, has spent more than six decades transforming fiber into something both luminous and grounded. With gold, thread, and horse hair, she has built a personal language shaped by repetition and touch. In her retrospective at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, this devotion to the hand is everywhere. It lives in the linen stitched with precious metals, in the dense texture of the horsehair panels, and in the dyed threads that hang from above. 

At the top of the stairs, the gallery opens into a space that feels both alive and reverent. Light pours in through floor-to-ceiling windows that frame a canopy of trees, grounding the experience in something distinctly natural. Suspended in the center are the Brumas, a series Amaral created between 2013 and 2018. Made from dyed threads arranged in delicate geometric formations, they seem to rain color onto the viewer. As you walk around them, the pieces shift. From some angles, they dissolve into air. From others, they appear solid, almost architectural.

Architect Lina Ghotmeh designed the exhibition as a vertical forest, and the idea resonates. The layout encourages slow movement and allows each piece to breathe. Though smaller than the original version presented by the Fondation Cartier in Paris, the Miami exhibition feels purposeful and deeply personal. The selection of works doesn’t follow a timeline, but instead moves through color, material, and mood, offering a thoughtful glimpse into Amaral’s range. 

Some of Amaral’s most powerful pieces appear at the far end of the gallery, where Estelas are installed. These tall, gold-leafed panels are placed directly opposite the Brumas, creating a quiet dialogue across the space. Where the Brumas are light and airy, the Estelas feel grounded and monumental. The surfaces seem ancient, as though they’ve been excavated from a sacred site. From a distance, they resemble doors or tombs. Up close, they reveal intricate, cracked textures of plaster and gold. The pieces call to mind the ceremonial goldwork of pre-Columbian Colombia. Their vertical weight is reminiscent of the mountains outside Bogota, where the light holds against the hills.

For much of Amaral’s career, weaving was seen as a craft: decorative, domestic, and rarely given space in contemporary museums. That is starting to change. Over the last decade, institutions, collectors, and even luxury brands have begun to revalue the handmade. Fashion houses are investing in artisan workshops. Major museums are acquiring textile-based work and giving it the space once reserved for painting or sculpture — exhibitions likeWeaving Abstraction in Ancient and Modern Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art reflect this shift. 

This broader shift toward valuing process and care is reshaping how we see work like Amaral’s. Bottega Veneta’s recent campaign, “Craft is our Language,” taps into that same conversation, positioning craftsmanship as both luxury and legacy. Amaral was speaking that language long before it became a slogan. Her devotion to process, to touch, to materials that carry memory has never wavered. She has spent decades turning what was once dismissed as decorative into an art form that is structural, immersive, and deeply intellectual.

That long-standing devotion is part of what makes this exhibition feel so timely. In a cultural moment that’s revaluing the handmade, Amaral’s work feels relevant and enduring. She has spent a lifetime turning touch into form, memory, and structure. In the quiet of the gallery, you’re reminded that it all begins with the hand: hers, and those that came before her.

The art of material and the devotion to touch

Olga de Amaral remembers her mother running her hand over a thick ruana, the wool mantle worn in the mountains of her native Colombia, with a reverence many reserve for prayer. “She would run her hand over them,” Amaral once said, “and the materials would come into direct contact with her skin.” That image stayed with her.

Amaral, now 92, has spent more than six decades transforming fiber into something both luminous and grounded. With gold, thread, and horsehair, she has built a personal language shaped by repetition and touch. In her retrospective at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, this devotion to the hand is everywhere. It lives in the linen stitched with precious metals, in the dense texture of the horsehair panels, and in dyed threads that hang from above.

At the top of the stairs, the gallery opens into a space that feels alive and reverent. Light pours in through floor-to-ceiling windows that frame a canopy of trees, grounding the experience in something distinctly natural. Suspended in the center are the Brumas, a series Amaral created between 2013 and 2018. Made from dyed threads arranged in delicate geometric formations, they seem to rain color onto the viewer. As you walk around them, the pieces shift. From some angles, they dissolve into air. From others, they appear solid, almost architectural.

Architect Lina Ghotmeh designed the exhibition as a vertical forest, and the idea resonates. The layout encourages slow movement and allows each piece to breathe. Though smaller than the original version presented by the Fondation Cartier in Paris, the Miami exhibition feels purposeful and personal. The arrangement of works doesn’t follow a timeline, but instead moves through color, material, and mood, offering a thoughtful glimpse into Amaral’s range.

Some of Amaral’s most powerful pieces appear at the far end of the gallery, where Estelas are installed. These tall, gold-leafed panels are placed directly opposite the Brumas, creating a quiet dialogue across the space. Where the Brumas are light and airy, the Estelas feel grounded and monumental. The surfaces seem ancient, as though excavated from a sacred site. From a distance, they resemble doors or tombs. Up close, they reveal cracked textures of plaster and gold. The pieces call to mind the ceremonial goldwork of pre-Columbian Colombia. Their vertical weight is reminiscent of the mountains outside Bogotá, where light holds against the hills.

For much of Amaral’s career, weaving was seen as craft: decorative, domestic, and rarely given space in contemporary museums. That is starting to change. Over the last decade, institutions, collectors, and luxury brands have begun to revalue the handmade. Fashion houses are investing in artisan workshops. Major museums are acquiring textile-based work and giving it the space once reserved for painting or sculpture — exhibitions like Weaving Abstraction in Ancient and Modern Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art reflect this shift.

This broader shift toward valuing materials and care is reshaping how we see work like Amaral’s. Bottega Veneta’s recent campaign, Craft is our Language, taps into that conversation, positioning craftsmanship as both luxury and legacy. Amaral was speaking that language long before it became a slogan. Her devotion to process, to touch, to materials that carry memory has never wavered. She has spent decades turning what was once dismissed as decorative into an art form that is structural, immersive, and deeply intellectual.

That long-standing devotion is part of what makes the exhibition feel timely. In a moment that’s revaluing the handmade, Amaral’s work feels relevant and enduring. She has spent a lifetime turning touch into form, memory, and structure. In the quiet of the gallery, you’re reminded that it all begins with the hand: hers, and those that came before her.

Written by: Maria Forero

Fashion Styling student, focusing on Fashion Writing at Istituto Marangoni.

References:

• A Landmark Retrospective at ICA Miami – Villa Albertine
• Olga de Amaral Retrospective Now on View at ICA Miami –  Cranbrook Academy News
• Olga de Amaral Wove Her Own Path. At 92 the Art World Is Catching Up – Artnet News