Mia

Maurizio Anzeri makes his portraits by sewing directly into found vintage photographs. His embroidered patterns embellish his subjects like elaborate masks or costumes, but also suggest a psychological aura, as if revealing thoughts, feelings or interior states. The soft, antique sepia of the photographs is often at odds with the graphic lines and silky shimmer of the thread. Combined, these media create the effect of a dimension where history and future converge. ‘I work with sewing, embroidery and drawing to explore the essence of signs in their physical manifestation’, says the artist. ‘I take inspiration from my own personal experience and observation of how, in other cultures, bodies themselves are treated as living graphic symbols.’ In Mia, Anzeri conceals the sitter’s face but leaves one eye uncovered to gaze out at the viewer, creating an arresting psychological portrait. The combined use of the photograph and the stitching brings Anzeri’s image from a bygone era sharply into the present, creating a material connection between the world of the viewer and that of the subject.