‘The project Flower heart consists of five portrait photographs printed on textile with embroidered floral motives. The flowers were chosen based on their symbolic meaning according to the book The Swedish Language of Flowers (1849), and how that meaning correlates to my relationship to the person portrayed. For each portrait there is an embroidered book containing the flowers of the portrait along with their symbolic meaning. For each book there is a pair of embroidered gloves, intended for viewers to wear while flipping through the books.’
‘I wanted to explore the therapeutic qualities of the embroidery technique. I began working on the project directly after finishing a therapy program for eating disorders, and the self-portrait For me became a continuation of that. Working with it forced me to spend a lot of time looking at my body, but not in the mirror emphasizing the flaws, but with an image that could not be changed. Trying to just accept, leave old unhealthy thought patterns behind and focus my mind on the repetitive work of stitching. The other portraits are an investigation into how embroidery can be used to manifest love and care for others, and let that love live on in on the world after we leave it.’
