To My Sole Desire

A collaborative installation by Jared Theis & Kristina Austi

Our work takes inspiration from the medieval tapestry To My Sole Desire, a piece that has fascinated us because of its unresolved meaning. Traditionally seen as part of The Lady and the Unicorn series, the tapestry has been interpreted in different ways: desire, renunciation, or something inbetween. This ambiguity is what drew us in and became the foundation for our collaboration.

In our installation, we explore these shifting meanings through a combination of woven and sculptural elements. The tapestry, woven by Kristina, is based on imagery modified by AI, introducing an element of distortion that plays with time, history, and perception. Jared’s sculptural objects exist in a similarly ambiguous space. They reference jewelry, relics, or bodily extensions, but their forms remain mysterious, never fully revealing their function or origin.

Connecting everything are threads and rope that create a sense of entanglement—suggesting attraction, control, or maybe something more fragile and unstable. Just as To My Sole Desire resists a single interpretation, our work invites the viewer into a space where desire, transformation, and restraint overlap. Rather than providing answers, we are interested in what happens when familiar imagery starts to unravel, when historical narratives, materials, and myths blend into something new, yet unresolved

Kristina’s website can be found at:  https://austikristina.com