Sometimes, embroidery is the vehicle of a larger artistic message. This is the case for Ukrainian artist Diana Yevtukh, whose stitched works span hollow spaces in the environment. Yevtukh places embroidered flowers and birds in notches of trees and rusting pieces of metal, conforming the thread to these areas. They make the otherwise ordinary surroundings come alive while adding to the overall meaning of the piece.
“Cracked concrete of the neighboring house wall,” Yevtukh describes to My Modern Met, “corroded tinplate or a once handmade, and now a ragged old mesh fence are amazing in the way they help to reveal my embroidery character and charm.”
Based in Lviv, Yevtukh’s work shifted focus after Russia invaded the country this year. “My whole world of blooming flowers was turned upside down,” she shares. “It’s like your heart had been broken into and the invaders are continuously torturing you from the inside. So much pain, helplessness, fear, and despair, mixed with occasional glimmers of hope.”
The invasion inspired Yevtukh to reimagine her past embroideries. “I started to remake my previous works digitally, to represent my current emotions,” she explains. “The bark of the trees was scorched. The soul of the tree was crying in blue and yellow tears. The fields of flowers were surrounded by doom and shadowed by the bombers. These gloom emotions are closely followed by hope: in the end, the spring will come anew, and flowers will always bloom again.”
Ukrainian embroidery artist Diana Yevtukh places her intricate embroideries in the hollow spaces of trees and dilapidated metal.
The stitching makes the otherwise ordinary environment come alive in a new way.
Yevtukh’s work shifted focus after Russia invaded the country this year.
The invasion inspired Yevtukh to reimagine her past embroideries.
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“I started to remake my previous works digitally, to represent my current emotions,” she tells My Modern Met.
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram