Pieces of the moon - woven necklaces and a myth

Weaving story with performance artist MILO

It’s our first post on store.front! A front for a store that wants to be more. I thought to shed light on the inner workings and unfolding of a recent project. Not often do we get a glimpse into the mind of an artwork, or a curation pov from a concept store like ours. I hope to share more of it here. Let me know if there’s anything you’d like to read from us in the future. —CC

This series of woven necklaces titled HAG: MILO’S MYTH will debut at Two Two later this month, presented by San Francisco-based performance artist MILO. This coincides with the release of her iterative newsprint publication, An Ode to Performance Art.

Initially a personal creation, I hope HAG: MILO’S MYTH and its lore will expand in multitudes, starting here.

How I met MILO

First Two Two editorial with MILO, shot by Minh Tran

It was a couple years back at a dinner party. I recall MILO and I talking about Asheville, where I was headed for the first time for a ceramic course at Penland, a craft school. She had strong ties to Tennessee and told me about the Appalachians, of bluegrass buskers in the South, and we talked about her performance art and my upcoming store opening. We became friends and then collaborators soon after.

With time, our projects became an asynchronous dance of creative reciprocity. I would design printed things for her performance archive. She brought a sense of embodiment to the articles of clothing and accessories featured at Two Two.

Though these woven necklaces would be the first time she’s created original pieces for Two Two.

How I first encountered the necklace

In late May, we met over Zoom to discuss the design process for her zine, An Ode to Performance Art (AOP). I had the privilege of building the 12-page spread based on her direction. A creative ‘IOU’ from a video I produced that she modeled/performed in weeks prior. Above-the-shoulders is all we get (and give) on Zoom typically, so I wasn’t prepared to be awestruck when she first appeared on screen.

It was a singular seashell, suspended on MILO’s neck, atop a wide woven band resembling bouclé. For a brief moment, her head and shoulders all but disappeared on Zoom.