This November, as part of our collaboration with Mutty’s cultural space, we are presenting two books, an exhibition and works of art. We are back to talking about nature because, until January 7th at Mutty, you will find the exhibition “A Stitch Out of Time” by the French artist Anaïs Beaulieu: a reflection on the fragility of the ecosystems, through the technique of embroidery and with an ironic yet pungent poetic style.
Anaïs Beaulieu learned to embroider when she was a child with her grandmother. A family affair that over the years has become the expressive technique used to delicately combine the tradition of the past with the contradictions of contemporaneity. The central element of the exhibition is the (F)utiles series, ten black plastic bags with hand-embroidered plant species, published in her latest book “A Stitch Out of Time”. The work stems from an image that impressed her during a trip to Burkina Faso: thousands of abandoned plastic bags scattered across the landscape, clinging to shrubs and plants. Anaïs has been an active artist in France for decades, with exhibitions at the Louvre and CNAP in Paris. In Italy, she is represented by Mutty.
A Stitch out of Time (libro)
Anaïs Beaulieu
Tara Books
Anaïs Beaulieu’s latest publication collects images of her embroideries on single-use plastic bags, typically used for waste recycling. The plant species embroidered on the plastic bags, at risk of extinction or already extinct, are a delicate gesture of redemption. The cover of each book is a physical reminder of the artwork, with an embroidered plastic panel in relief, placing the title among the artist’s books in the Mutty catalogue. The Indian publishing house Tara books is renowned for producing books in which craftsmanship and industrial typography are combined to create objects of high aesthetic and design value.
À vos souhaits
Anaïs Beaulieu
Serendip
The publication collects all the hand-embroidered ‘handkerchiefs’ by the French artist. On antique and delicate handkerchiefs, objects typical of our industrial and consumerist society are embroidered in contrast, creating a destabilizing but aesthetically appealing effect. The dichotomies that emerge are industrial/natural, mechanical/manual, speed/slowness, urban/selvish. On show at Mutty you will also find a series of these 18 embroidered handkerchiefs.
