INSIDE cycle
2023
No. 13 circular embroidery hoops, dimensions from 20 to 33 cm
Overall dimensions: 150 × 120 h cm
The round frames, or tambour embroidery hoops, are the supports on which women, enclosed within their homes, embroidered floral motifs, delicate scrollwork, and affected symbols of a concept of femininity imposed for centuries by male power. At first glance, the work appears as a pleasant and romantic image; in reality, each embroidery hoop is a microscope slide; it is a stark scientific observation of the anatomical tissues of a female body. Each frame contains an embroidered macro-enlargement of its connective, muscular, and bone tissue, of its cells and synapses, and of its DNA chain. The refined ecru white, chosen as the colour for the embroidery, softens the work and disorients us, while the starkness of the narrative takes us into the depths, into the essence of the “bride’s” body; into its organic structure born from life and capable of generating life. An organism governed by the laws of nature does not abide by the rules of gender apartheid, religion, oppressive regimes, or the rights dictated by a male-dominated dictatorship, which determine the degree of its inclusion or exclusion from social and cultural life. Even today, in the name of these “rules”, a woman’s body is wounded, humiliated, insulted, mutilated, repressed, violated, annihilated, deprived of freedom, and killed.
Featured, Textile Sculptures