Refugee Project — Panel 4: Echoing

This panel continues my exploration of inherited memory shaped by displacement in the aftermath of World War II. Rooted in my family’s history, it forms part of a broader body of textile art about migration and memory across generations.

Created using natural dyes, eco-printing, stitching, and photo transfer.

In this work, layered butterflies and handwritten texts create a dialogue across time. Two butterflies are placed at each site, with a textured upper layer in earthy browns and a “ghost” butterfly beneath, rendered in soft white and partially emerging from below. These layered forms suggest presence and absence existing simultaneously.

The background is a warm chocolate ground with faint pink lotus blossoms. In opposite corners, muted handwritten passages from my grandfather and my mother appear. On one passage—written by my mother to her father—I have added a subtle English translation, lightly inscribed over the original text.

Colonial knots in varied tones connect the butterflies, acting as both stitching and interruption, binding and dispersing the surface at once. Language shifts across generations here—overlapping, translated, and partially lost, yet still resonant. Meaning is not fixed in the text itself, but carried through its movement and transformation.

Developed in my studio.

Thank you for following the journey of the Refugee Project. Your interest and encouragement mean a great deal as this series continues to evolve.

https://maijazemitis.com/refugee-project-panel-3-enduring/