TEXERE is a collaborative platform which transforms human losses into ever-evolving digital memorial tapestries. Texere is a Latin verb which means 'to weave' and it is from this root that words like 'text' and 'textile' emerge, revealing an age-old relationship between storytelling and the patterns and images woven in cloth. Humans have been weaving for 30,000 years for survival and to reflect where we belong in a network of relations.

“[Allegra’s] virtual space was deeply moving and unexpectedly healing.”

- The Art Newspaper Technology for social good: how digital artists are using their work to promote inclusivity.

Photo Credit: Nikki Ritcher

TEXERE is an art-based mental health app that weaves digital memorial tapestries from words, images, and soundbites about people’s losses. “Texere” is a Latin verb that means “to weave”, and is where the words “text” and “textile” originate from. In fact, the use of weaving to record human stories is 30,000 years old. When you visit TEXERE, you are invited to choose from a menu of losses that relate to your own story. You might choose the loss of sleep, the loss of respect for someone who once helped you, or the loss of one’s indigenous language. Once you select a focus, you make an anonymous entry about how that loss makes you feel. TEXERE then transforms that entry into a digital thread that is woven into a larger digital tapestry of entries from people all over the world who are grieving that same loss.

Each time anyone engages in the simple ritual of making a new entry, the composition of the tapestry changes. The tapestry can be changed an infinite number of times. Through woven patterns, TEXERE is a new kind of memorial experience that provides a visual archive of how we collectively change and grow in relationship to our experiences of loss. Images of the memorial tapestries can be viewed as reminders that we are not alone in our grief processes —all from the comfort of a phone or computer. texere.space

TEXERE: A Love Letter to San Francisco

Commissioned for the international FOG Art fair, this site-specific commission contained two custom themes: "love in San Francisco" and "a love whose grief was worth the cost". Visitors interact with the work by contributing words and images which were then woven into ten 6’x6’ tapestries lining the opening to the fair.
Commissioned by FOG Art Fair. San Francisco, CA. 2024. 12’ h x 50’ w x 20’ d | 3.6m x 15.2m x 6m
Photo Credit: Nikki Ritcher
TEXERE: The Shape of Loss Is a Tapestry

A living, interactive memorial to losses of all sizes in our lives. This garden of hanging tapestries is illuminated with text and images contributed by viewers. The glowing weavings are bodies of light in the darkness, guiding the viewer through a new kind of memorial experience.
Commissioned by Minnesota Street Project - San Francisco, CA (2021) 15’ h x 20’ w x 35’ d | 4.5m x 6m x 10.6m
Photo Credit: Jenna Garrett
TEXERE: Nine Letters

TEXERE: Nine Letters is the nation's first interactive self memorializing digital tapestry. This is a letter writing project where we as future ancestors weave together our advice and encouragement for future generations based on what we have learned from our experiences of loss. TEXERE: Nine Letters, recognizes the special relationship between the number nine in Chinese which sounds very similar to 久, jiŭ and can translate to the nine lettered English word 'longevity'.
Commissioned by Edge on the Square. San Francisco, CA. 2023. 5’ h x 18” w | 1.5m x .45 m
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Artist
TEXERE: Loss of a Sense of Home

This site-specific commission is the nation's first interactive, public memorial to 'a loss of a sense of home' a digital memorial tapestry 'upholstering' the outside wall of YBCA. The installation faces Mission Street in downtown San Francisco visible after dark by thousands of people daily. Visitors can contribute to the work in either English, Spanish, Tagalog and Chinese by contributing words or images from their phone related to the theme.
Commissioned by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. San Francisco, CA. 2023. 32.5’ h x 16.25’ w | H 10m x W 5m
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Artist

TEXERE was conceived by Indira Allegra and built by Sassafras Tech Collective. The project has received support from the Ford Foundation Gallery, Creative Capital, California Black Voices Project and CripTech Metaverse Lab.

TEXERE: A Tapestry Is A Forest

In 2023 a prototype of TEXERE in the metaverse was born through the CripTech Metaverse Lab. TEXERE: A Tapestry Is A Forest is the first ever memorial space in the Viverse offers users a contemplative virtual environment to reflect on shared experiences of loss through movement and sound. Here, two dimensional weaving is expanded into a three dimensional metaverse where the vertical threads of a digital memorial tapestry appear as the trees of a forest and the horizontal threads are made by pathways created as one moves through the environment to leave commemorative notes behind.

The movements of avatars through the forest create glowing, threadlike paths that make momentary weavings between trees and flowers which causes them to sing in direct response. TEXERE: A Tapestry Is A Forest is an opportunity to think of memorial as a collective, creative space and a vibrant alternative to narratives which stigmatize the public discussion of loss.

Unity Developers at DOTDOT: Kate Stevenson, Chris White, Jacques Foottit

Technical Artist at DOTDOT: Jeff Jones

3D Design: Serena Treppiedi

Sound Design: Amanda Gregory

“Each element of TEXERE’s design participates in a dialogue of stillness and movement, of permanence and ephemerality, that encourages reflection on loss and change.”

- OUTLAND “Metaverse as Dark Forest”
“[Allegra’s] virtual space was deeply moving and unexpectedly healing.” .

- The Art Newspaper Technology for social good: How Digital Artists are Using Their Work to Promote Inclusivity