Datu Arellano

Tahigami

Geometric thread drawings

Tahigami

Tahi is the Filipino word for stitch and gami (kami) is Japanese for paper. Combined they form Tahigami, a word I made up, which means stitching on paper.

I began Tahigami as a method of drawing. After a few years in development, Tahi to me is about connecting, discovering common threads, finding intersections and meaning, forming relationships. Gami (kami) may as well be any conceptual or actual surface, ground, or plane, and not limited to paper.

From an obsession with a three-sided polygon that began in 2011, this work is evolving into a framework for creating visual and musical compositions. This process- oriented framework gave me the chance to reflect on and explore geometry and algorithmic thinking, time and space, order and chaos, melody and harmony, therapy and healing.