Depicting a former wall on actual site photographs with hand-embroidery is what makes Diane Meyer’s creations so interesting. Sample her series ‘Berlin’, where she has embroidered no less than 43 photographs. The hand-embroidery on the photographs follow the entire 104-mile (167-kilometers) of the Berlin Wall. In these, she overlays pedestrians, walls and forests with meticulous stitches where the Berlin Wall once stood.
In these photographs, Meyer has deliberately obscured sections of the image by means of cross-stitch embroidery sewn directly into the photograph. In some photographs, the scale and location of the former Wall remain exactly the same. This embroidered wall offers a pixelated view of what lies beyond, which wasn’t possible when the actual wall was there. According to her, the pixilated view of what’s behind the wall creates the effect of an almost ghost-like trace in the landscape.
In an interview with Colossal, she explains, “At one point, I was experimenting with large landscape images using thousands of little tiny squares of carpet remnants which functioned as pixels. I think these early experiments ultimately led me to the work that I’m doing now.” On how her work has evolved, she says, “My work has long been defined by explorations into the physical, social and psychological qualities that characterize the place.”
On her website, Meyer explains, “The embroidery is made to resemble pixels and borrows the visual language of digital imaging in an analog, handmade process. The images were taken in the city center as well as in the suburbs where I followed the former path of the wall through the outskirts of the city.”
Meyer’s latest series is titled ‘Reunion’ that comprise elementary school class pictures of the 70s. Through this, she seeks to focus on body language by blurring facial features with stitched interventions. Meyer did her Master in Fine Art from the University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA and Minor Art History from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, New York, USA.
Diane Meyer: Website | Instagram