Collaboration with painter Ana Karkar, Montreuil, France
Images documented in 2021, in her Montreuil studio
Ana Karkar is an American-French artist, living and working in Paris for many years. During the day, she can be found in her atelier in Montreuil, passing the time on her paintings and sculptures. When we met with Ana, I shared with her the old flower motifs from Turkish oya scarves and the idea of these motifs and scarves carrying the thoughts of their maker. So oya embroidery as a language was interpreted through Ana Karkar’s illustrations of her contemporary landscape. The oil-pastel composition was illustrated on a large-scale paper in her atelier and then, was printed in Italy on organic cotton and silk for the edition i. Therefore it was possible to keep the reminiscence of the patterns found on the traditional scarves yet interpret them through an added point of view.
entry to Ana’s studio
paints in use
stacked canvases
A limited edition of a carré wrap skirt and scarves in a medium-weight silk twill and light weight organic cotton was also created with the print created by the artist. These pieces were accompanied by an oya hand embroidery.
A painting being wrapped
process illustrations
Ana testing different motifs
portrait in her studio
Many trials of colors, shapes, and motifs were realized with Ana during this process. The final artwork was made by Ana in a large-scale format, photographed in small parts, and put together using a photogrammetry method, to capture all the details and brushstrokes to the textile version.
