American artist Bisa Butler recreates historic photographs in textile, employing quilting techniques for the purpose and imbuing the images with fresh symbolism through her choice of fabrics and colours. The resulting works breathe powerful, and deliberate, new life into their period source material. “The photograph is already a mechanical process of flattening a three-dimensional object and then re-creating it on a two-dimensional surface,” Butler explains in the catalogue of her current exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago. “I’m interested in the human contribution, how we see things. I think the more we rely on technology for art, the less humanity it has.” Read more about the show and Butler’s unique practice here.
