Hand Sewn: Artist Embroiders Portraits into His Own Skin

I remember when I got my first splinter. We were camping, and I picked it up from an old, weather-worn picnic table. I ran to my mom, who immediately began to ask around for a needle. “A needle?” I thought. “For what?”My five-year-old brain could not wrap itself around the idea that it was even a reasonable option to choose to stick a needle in your hand.

But, of course we know that the top several layers of your hand skin is rather tough, and with care (as I mindlessly end up demonstrating on many an extended conference call…) you can stick a needle in your hand…um, safely.

Spanish artist David Cata can attest as well as any. In his series “Under the Skin,” he hand embroiders his, uh, hand with the images of those who’ve made a major impact on his life. 

David says (through Google translate): “Under the Skin” is an autobiographical diary in which my body is support. On it I write the story of my life. By actual sewn performed on the palm of my hand, picture the faces of all those people who, somehow, have marked me throughout my life, family, friends, couples, teachers … Their lives are interwoven with mine to build my story, a story that ends when I run out of leaves to write about.

Previoiusly, David experimented with portraits and hand embroidery in his series, “Neither With Nor Without Me“

 See more at We the Urban and at David’s site: DavidCata.com