safety and stitch.

Through a few blogs I have seen the open satin stitching work of painter Cecile Jarsaillon and figured it was about time to feature her work here.


Her paintings themselves are incredibly impressive- Her blog is in french so I am just making my own conclusions of what is going on-
The paintings seem to reference the television and scenes being acted out- she has a gorgeous series of a boxing match and then a series that seems to recreate a hospital related family drama.


But of course, I prefer her embroidery which utilizes a somewhat long and open satin stitch laid over photographic images- I am not sure if that means they are small works or not? But the affect is quite interesting and unique in technique.


Apparently most of the images are from a safety manual- and include images of getting shots, car accidents, and daily falls that a child might experience. And though I find that concept quite interesting in theory- I am personally more drawn to editing it down and making my own narrative. Since I in general prefer moments that are of the more ordinary and everyday these are of course the images of hers that I am most in love with.
Especially the boy brushing his teeth.



I realize that I am just projecting what I want onto her work and perhaps erasing her intention. But this is the curse and blessing of seeing work online- it is much easier to mentally edit when you see work via the web.


The more "safety" focused of the images are compelling in their own way- by the juxtaposition of embroidery with somewhat startling and at times horrific images. Because of the nature of her hand and construction of the pieces their imagery can come to you as quite unexpected which works well conceptually. But at the same time the use of these images in this type of re- contextualisation seems a little too familiar. So I will let myself keep be drawn to the ones I prefer and leave the rest for others to appreciate.

See more of Cecile's work especially her paintings at her blog.