Textileartist.org Discover list
I am so honoured to be included on Textileartist.org Discover list and to be featured alongside such amazing artists.
Read my section below and the entire article here: https://www.textileartist.org/10-contemporary-embroidery-artists/
Beyond fabric and thread
Limitless. That’s how so many artists describe the creative medium of textiles. Time and time again they explain that the possibilities are never-ending, and so very exciting.
Take Debbie Smyth, Lisa Kokin, Rosie James, Inge Jacobsen and Lindsey Gradolph, who have all found unique and personal ways to express their ideas.
These makers are constantly experimenting and advancing their craft. Some are well versed in traditional techniques and materials, others are new to textiles.
But what they all have in common is a curiosity to look beyond what’s expected. Each plays with the medium in order to tell a personal story, create a striking image, interpret feelings or to comment on the world around them.
We asked each of these contemporary textile artists about one of their artworks and to reveal the ideas that shaped it.
Inge Jacobsen
Centuries ago, the value of embroidery and lace lay not only in the time consuming and skilled nature of their production but in their exclusivity and signalling of status, as any portrait of Elizabeth I or Henry VIII reveals.
Today, mass-produced images infiltrate our every waking moment. They’re available for instant consumption, to be scrolled and liked, shared or forgotten, each quickly replaced by another in an instant.
So when Inge Jacobsen chooses to spend hours embroidering a magazine cover, an obsession that results in works such as Beyoncé – Dazed & Confused – Hijacked, the result is something of a conundrum.
Obscuring the cover star’s carefully selected outfit, her perfectly styled hair and make-up are thousands of meticulously hand embroidered cross-stitches, forming a pixelated yet recognisable facsimile of the singer.
And in a further twist, the cover is stitched from the back: ‘It was such a good image and outfit, I didn’t think embroidery would improve it, so I decided to disrupt it by inverting it,’ says Inge.
Beyond the surface
While the overall image is retained it is simplified. The embroidery is still an embellishment of sorts, yet it’s a playful subversion around the conventions of worth assigned to labour and materials.
‘Why would anyone in their right mind spend hours and hours carefully embroidering something that could melt if it gets wet or tear if you pull the thread too hard, right?’ It’s a question that Inge loves to consider.
‘I love working on magazines because for most people, once they’re read or looked at a few times they become disposable – more mass-produced artwork for the trash heap, so adding time consuming embroidery adds a certain uniqueness that’s lost in the mass-production process.’
Inge Jacobsen, Beyoncé – Dazed & Confused – Hijacked – Front (detail), 2011. 21cm x 28cm (8.2” x 11”). Stranded cotton thread (Anchor) on paper. Cross stitch. Photography: Sharif Hamza
Inge Jacobsen, Beyoncé – Dazed & Confused – Hijacked – Back (detail), 2011. 21cm x 28cm (8.2” x 11”). Stranded cotton thread (Anchor) on paper. Cross stitch. Photography: Sharif Hamza
‘It goes back to the idea of making something mass-produced unique, beautiful, delicate and special. I could embroider the same cover 50 times and each one would be unique.’
For Inge, the aim is to push beyond what’s expected. ‘You can do a lot with a needle and thread – physically and conceptually. I love appropriating images versus creating an image from scratch. There is nothing wrong with a bit of creative collaboration.’
Inge Jacobsen at work in her studio
Inge Jacobsen was born in Galway, Ireland where she currently resides. She attended Kingston University, London, graduating in 2011 with a BA in Fine Art Photography and has worked as a professional artist with brands such as Apple TV and WIRED magazine UK.
