Dianna Frid is an artist working at the intersection of material texts and textiles. Her artist’s books and mixed-media works make visible the tactile manifestations of language. In her work, embroidery is a prominent vehicle for exploring the relationships between writing and drawing, and the overlaps of transcription, translation, and legibility.

Frid was born in Mexico City, where she was first exposed to textiles as complex codes of material writing. At the age of fifteen she immigrated, with her family, to Vancouver, Canada. These and other points of reference help her situate her work alongside lineages that embrace art and needlework without framing them in hierarchical opposition. Time, Rhythm, Process, and Matter are never in opposition.

Frid is Professor in the Art Department at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and she has received numerous grants including awards from 3Arts Award, the Illinois Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. English is Dianna Frid’s stepmother tongue.