winterSALON/2012: Desiree Hammes 'Follow me into the nowhere' - embroidery art in blacklight

Is this the under or upper side of Desiree's embroidery? 

Embroidery artist Desiree Hammen (1976) studied at ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Arnhem and is trained at the famous Ecole Lesage in Paris, France. In her work she combines haute couture techniques with DIY skills, exploring the beauty of imperfection. For her punk and intuitive style she can be called the enfant terrible of haute embroidery couture techniques for taking traditional crafts to another level.
During winterSALON/2012 Desiree Hammen created a special piece, called 'Follow me into the nowhere', inspired by song lyrics of Crystal Castles. Intrigued by the fact that in embroidery the bottom part is as beautiful as the visual part but never showed, she turned things upside down by focussing what's litteraly under the surface. And not removed the treads - a tabboo in terms of haute couture! Desiree explains: "If one embroiders a cloth there always is an upper side and a bottom side. While working I discovered that all these loose and unfinished threads on the bottom side form an interesting interplay. Thereafter I started developing this interplay on purpose in order to integrate the two sides of the embroidery frame into one work. The work is illuminated by blacklight, or UV light. This light shines through the matter (surface) and in this way it creates a world like a galaxy."


Visit winterSALON/2012 and the Bijbels Museum to see it yourself: www.salon1.org/tickets


More info www.desireehammen.nl