Katja, print and thread on canvas
Embroidered portraits, 2005

I’ve enjoyed sewing since childhood and I have incorporated embroidery in some of my earlier works, like the hand embroidered Zvezda and Odeon motifs or the computer assisted embroideries of some family portraits. But it never felt quite right. Neither the embroidery by hand (which was to slow) nor the computer assisted one (which was just to alienating) could convey what I was finally able to do with the sewing machine, which just became an extension of my hand. The sewing lines were fast, self-confident, made an individual statement and provided depth to the flatness of the printed drawings.