ÉCHANTILLON

HD video, 2016

Inside a textile factory in Mexico City, amid the noise and relentless pace of the mechanical looms, María works in an enclosed space, cutting fabric samples by hand. While the machines produce continuous lengths of textile, her work proceeds through a sequence of precise, repetitive gestures: separating, measuring, cutting, and organising fragments.

In this section of the vast factory, industrial production appears to follow another temporality—one measured not by the uninterrupted movement of the machines, but by the rhythm, concentration, and physical knowledge of the hands. María’s gestures introduce a human scale into a system organised around mechanical speed and repetition.

The French word échantillon means “sample”: a fragment selected to represent a larger material whole. By focusing on the production of these fragments, the video draws attention to forms of manual labour that remain embedded within automated manufacturing but often pass unnoticed. The textile sample becomes evidence not only of colour, pattern, and material, but also of the time, bodily knowledge, and human presence involved in its production.