How do fabric sculptures utilize negative space to redefine volume?

Fabric sculptures challenge traditional notions of volume by masterfully incorporating negative space. Unlike solid materials, textiles allow artists to manipulate voids as actively as the material itself, creating dynamic forms that breathe and shift. By strategically cutting, folding, or layering fabrics, sculptors transform empty areas into essential compositional elements. This technique achieves visual lightness while maintaining structural presence, making the unseen space as impactful as the physical fibers. Contemporary artists like Magdalena Abakanowicz demonstrate how negative space in textile art can evoke emotional tension and spatial poetry. The interplay between fabric and emptiness ultimately redefines three-dimensionality, proving that volume exists not just in matter but in the careful balance of presence and absence.