Bound By These Roots

Bound By These Roots
An Exhibition by Soraya Shah and Rebecca Davison

Craftspring Community Arts Showcase is proud to present Bound By These Roots, a fiber art exhibition by Soraya Shah and Rebecca Davison, opening September 12 in Gowanus, Brooklyn.

Bound By These Roots explores the threads of heritage, chosen family, and identity. Drawing from personal histories and cross-cultural journeys, Shah and Davison use fiber techniques to express their evolving sense of home and belonging. Though their backgrounds are distinct, their work is united by the impulse to ground memory and connection in material form.

For Soraya Shah, weaving is a language that bridges continents and generations. Born in Brazil to a Trinidadian family, Shah’s upbringing spanned South America—from Ecuador to Colombia. Their early fascination with handwoven textiles began at age eight in the Otavalo Market in Ecuador. Now based in New York, Shah continues to honor their heritage through vibrant, handwoven fabrics named after cities, family members, and foods that shaped their identity. After nearly two decades designing textiles for interior design showrooms, Shah founded Fiber Content Studio to continue their own line of handwovens for the interior design and architectural trade, with a focus on supporting handmade textile production in the US.

Rebecca Davison is an artist who uses fiber processes in both traditional and untraditional ways. This show highlights a collection of work called Bobby D named after her late father, Robert Davison. She found a box of his drawings from elementary and middle school, and started to incorporate elements of them into her own embroidery and wallpaper designs. Trained at Cranbrook Academy of Art and SCAD, Davison built large-scale installations for Anthropologie & Co. before turning her attention to embroidery and ornament design with Craftspring. Originally from New Hampshire and now living in Brooklyn, her work reflects both her formal training in fiber and a lifelong commitment to tactile storytelling.

Together, Shah and Davison invite viewers to consider how fiber art can hold the weight of memory, lineage, and transformation. Bound By These Roots is a meditation on how we make and remake our sense of family, belonging, and home.

The opening reception is on Friday, September 12, from 4–7PM at Craftspring Community Arts Showcase.

Gallery Hours: