100x145cm
100x145cm
83x112cm
100x145cm
Medium: Freehand Machine Embroidery
Dimensions: Varies (please check each image above)
Year: 2021-2022
During the lockdown, I started making freehand machine embroidery and tried to capture a vision for a post-pandemic future, along with a journey through my creative influences and history.
When l start making each work with this medium, however, l make plans and layout all the yarn with colour coordination, but in the end, improvisation leads me. The randomness of mistakes makes sense when you look at the work from a few feet away. The process becomes quite satisfying after adding hundred of meters of thread and suddenly, an impression appears.
First I prepare a digital collage and turn that into physical work by using sewing machine embroidery. It takes a long time and involves a lot of improvisation as well as mistakes that lead me to take new directions.
They are not always portraits of people l know or situation that l have experienced or they are there because they represent something about me. But rather they represent realities about the world we live in. They are usually stitched up from many different people, ideas, images, happenings, thoughts, historical references, or imaginary moments. I use my own photo archive as well as found images and I assemble them in a way to create a new narrative.
You can read a recent interview about my work and watch a video below to see the process.
https://omm.art/en/news/omm-studio-i-in-conversation-with-mustafa-boga