I'm Kareem Siddiqui (they/them), a fiber artist and witch based in Tennessee. My work involves handstitching as sites for ritual, devotion, and embracing taboos regarding gender expression, spirituality, and sexuality.

Much of my practice depicts bodily forms deconstructed and splayed. Batting becomes flesh as I build up sculptural layers. The outer layer becomes skin as I stitch it down. My work is informed by the intimate body through erotic themes found in kink, fetish, and BDSM.

My practice engages with tarot reading, spellwork, and astrology as conceptual tools, embodied processes, and alternative ways of knowing. While earning my BFA in Sculpture at Mississippi State University, I discovered how art was created through a system of correspondance through materials each with their own individual meanings. By exploring the art process through an occult lens, each art piece becomes a spell and offering.

I was initially drawn to fiber artforms because of their meditative rhythm and methodical practice. However, it can not be avoided that fiber art has a cultural weight because of its associations with women, queer communities, and unspoken storytelling. This tone led me to embrace the lineage of subtle tactile learning of esoteric wisdom from my craft ancestors.

Throughout textile history, thread embodied metaphor for life itself as medium associated with fate and storytelling. The queer body is one that defies fate, or at least so it seems. We all have to unravel the mold of normalcy for the sake of our own self expression. Though we will never know what otherworldly beings have fated us for our paths, queerness embraces the constant transitions that life has in store for us.

Like many contemporary witchcraft practices, I seek to iterate on traditions of the past to create a new patchwork for my future. Growing up as a Muslim Indian-American in the Bible Belt, I felt like an outsider regardless of what community I was entering. When I was young I didn't have a grasp of my own culture. Through studying fiber art as an adult, I rediscovered practices like shisha embroidery, a Southwest Asian embroidery method for holding mirrors into place onto fabric. In my practice, mirrors become eyes as portals of self reflection and wards of protection.

Think of me as Dr Frankenstein or the Other Mother from Coraline. If you want to see behind the scenes, find me on XYZ.