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Chiachio & Giannone present “Fortune and Abundance” and “The Guardians of Wishes” in their first solo exhibition at Wanås Konst in Sweden.

Curated by Débora Voges, the works unfold both in indoor spaces and in the outdoor sculpture park, proposing a journey where textiles, spirituality, and the collective intertwine. Through embroidery, patchwork, and quilting, the Argentine duo constructs visual narratives where scenes from everyday life coexist with references to queer iconography, indigenous traditions, and motifs with Catholic roots.

In Fortune and Abundance, Chiachio & Giannone delve deeper into their practice of “painting with needle and thread,” also incorporating textiles donated by various individuals, which add new layers of time, memory, and history to the works. The collaborative and affective dimension permeates the entire exhibition, expanding the boundaries between art, community, and shared experience.

In the sculpture park, Guardians of Wishes reinterprets the pre-Columbian figure of Ekeko—an Andean deity associated with abundance and prosperity—on a monumental scale made from local beech wood. The knitted hats combine patterns from the Comechingón people with the colors of the rainbow flag, putting folklore, identity, and desire in dialogue and reflecting on how traditions transform their meanings over time and across different cultural contexts.

Exhibition text: “Fortune and Abundance”

Chiachio & Giannone describe their work as “painting with needle and thread.” Starting from sketches and photographs, they create multifaceted textile works using embroidery, patchwork, and quilting. The process is slow and requires a lot of labor, and the compositions can take several years to complete. From the beginning of their artistic careers, they have sought to elevate the status of textile art while adding nuances to the representation of LGBTQ people in Argentina. In their works, everyday life in Buenos Aires meets influences from both queer iconography and the history of Latin American and European art. By also incorporating Catholic motifs and references to indigenous traditions, they create visual narratives where the spiritual and the everyday coexist. The sense of collectivity is always present in their work, and as a duo, they dissolve the boundaries between their individual artistic practices. When the public becomes a co-creator, as in the workshop at Wanås Konst, this quality of their work deepens even further. With donated textiles created by hands other than their own, the fabrics are imbued with additional layers of time, memory, and history. Chiachio & Giannone is an Argentine artist duo formed by Leo Chiachio (born in 1969 in Buenos Aires, works in Buenos Aires) and Daniel Giannone (born in 1964 in Córdoba, works in Buenos Aires).

Text: “Guardians of Wishes”

A recurring theme in the work of Chiachio & Giannone is their interest in how folklore endures and evolves over time. Guardians of Wishes is based on a pre-Columbian deity called Ekeko, originating from the Andean highland region. It is a common talisman in Latin American homes, said to bring prosperity in exchange for food, money, and cigarettes.

The figure is typically represented as a cheerful, mustachioed man in traditional Andean attire. It is usually small in size, but for Wanås Konst, Chiachio & Giannone have recreated Ekeko on a larger scale using local beech wood. The knitted hats combine motifs from the Comechingón people with the rainbow flag. Through this work, the artists invite us to reflect on the ideas of abundance and desire, but also on how traditions and rituals acquire different meanings in various moments and contexts.