Hale Ekinci is a Turkish-American artist based in Chicago. Using her lived experience as an immigrant, she combines Middle Eastern and Western textile craft and fine art traditions to explore the layered realities of immigration, gender, and cultural hybridity. Recognising her craft as embedded in the history of women’s undervalued work, Ekinci engages with personal and collective memories of the materials she employs. 

Under One Roof is a suspended textile installation shaped like a house—a symbolic space where past and present coalesce in a playful dialogue. Up close, the fabric reveals intricate collages of family photographs, including images of both Ekinci’s Turkish heritage and her husband’s American lineage. These are intercut with cultural symbols (fezzes, liberty bells, and party hats) and vibrant floral motifs, with acrylic paint and embroidered thread harmonising these elements together. The underside of the piece unfolds further layers of this visual language, inviting viewers to engage with its hidden details, much like the untold stories of immigrant life.