Caroline Monnet Presents “Threads That Remember” at the 2026 State of Fashion Biennale

Caroline Monnet, Threads That Remember, 2026, floor and roof underlayment, waterproofing and insulating membranes, sill gasket, polyethylene, tarpaulin, thread, grommets, 95⅞ x 168 in | 243.8 x 426.7 cm photo coutesy of the artist.

Nunu Fine Art is pleased to share that Canadian artist Caroline Monnet was invited by the Wereldmuseum (National Museum of World Culture) to undertake a residency in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The residency brought Monnet’s Anishinaabe-French background and Indigenous methodologies into dialogue with fashion, material culture, local communities, and contemporary systems shaped by colonial histories.  

As an outcome of the residency, Monnet presents Threads That Remember (2026), a newly commissioned work now on view at Museum Arnhem as part of the 2026 State of Fashion Biennale, Available to Promise, from May 14 to June 28, 2026. Using industrial materials such as floor and roof underlayment, waterproofing and insulating membranes, polyethylene, tarpaulin, thread, and grommets, the large-scale work takes the shape of a traditional dress pattern, presented flat against the wall. 

While its display recalls museum modes of presentation, the form refers to a garment normally worn and animated through movement. In Anishinaabe contexts, the dress is associated with identity, cultural continuity, and relationships to land and community. Rather than replicating tradition, Monnet reinterprets it through contemporary materials, foregrounding Indigenous experience today and affirming cultural resilience across land, memory, and community. 

Threads That Remember was commissioned by Wereldmuseum, Nijmegen, in collaboration with the State of Fashion Biennale, Arnhem.