Biography

Caroline Faïnke, born in Mons in 1975, is a visual artist and costume designer. She lives and works in Brussels. Her work, at the crossroads of textile art and performance, is characterized by a colorful and expressive universe.
Having grown up in Binche, a town known for its carnival, Caroline was introduced to textiles at an early age by her mother, a seamstress. In the 90’s, she began creating her own clothes . Then, she studied at the Parsons School of Design in New York, at the Brussels School of Fine Arts, and completed a master’s in textile at ENSAV La Cambre in 2014. She also acquired solid technical experience in industrial pattern making, computer-assisted weaving, and the creation of custom orthopedic corsets.
Her works have been exhibited at the Bouwmeester Workshop during Brussels Design, 2014, at Trademart, at the CACLB Belgian Luxembourg, at the TAMAT in Tournai where she was in residence in 2015, at the Haacht International Textile Biennale in 2017,… Recently, she designed costumes for the shows Liefde/Amour and Mimi’s Shebeen at KVS (Brussels).
Artist Statement
Visualize a jacquard fabric: flowers appear on the front, while on the back, floated threads — invisible — provide the structure. If these threads are cut, the patterns unravel, fade, disappear.
This principle is at the heart of my approach.
Like textile, the stage relies on an essential duality: without the technicians behind the scenes — lighting, stage management, backstage — the visible body, that of the performer, cannot fully exist. The front and the back are inseparable, complementary, necessary.
In my textile work, I make this relationship visible by juxtaposing the front and the back on a single surface. I reveal what is usually hidden, giving equal value to these two realities.
This approach is rooted in a broader reflection on the invisible structures that support our perception of the world. I draw inspiration as much from 16th-century historical tapestries, such as Les Honneurs, as from contemporary and underground aesthetics, to question systems of representation, hierarchies, and the arbitrary boundaries between what is shown and what is hidden.
My work is a sensitive and visceral response to questions of identity and duality — nourished by my own cultural heritage — where opposites do not exclude each other but coexist.
By highlighting the reverse as much as the front, I seek to reduce the distance between the visible and the invisible, and to reveal the beauty, necessity, and strength of what acts in the shadows.

Exhibitions

2024 Abstract, group exhibition at Tamat, Tournai
2022 Dé-Border, contemporary art triennial, group exhibition at Tamat
2021 “And you, how do you imagine happiness?”, group exhibition celebrating 40 years of artistic research at Tamat, Tournai
2017 Haacht International Textile Biennial, group exhibition
2016 Hanging, IN VITRIN exhibition, Les Drapiers, Liège
2015 R15, group exhibition at Tamat, Tournai
2015 “Behind the Scenes”, group exhibition at the Centre for Contemporary Art of Belgian Luxembourg
2014 “Window Shopping”, group exhibition at Trademart, Brussels