The series Photo-Souvenirs explores the memories of Carolle Bénitah’s Moroccan childhood and adolescence by reworking and threading old family snapshots. The artist, who worked for ten years as a fashion designer before turning to photography in 2001, incorporates the art of sewing and beading into her photographs.
In what she describes as “excavations”, photographs are unearthed from albums and shoeboxes, classified, scanned, transposed onto new paper and finally hand-beaded and embroidered by the artist. This final step, accomplished with red, black or gold thread and wire and glass beads – chosen for their shine and delicacy – is for the artist a revelatory act. “To embroider my photograph, I make holes in the paper. With each stitch, I stick the needle through the paper. Each hole is a putting to death of my demons. It’s like an exorcism. I stab the paper until I don’t hurt anymore.”
To accomplish this work of deconstruction, the artist uses needlework, embroidery and beads. Embroidering is primarily a feminine activity. In the past, an embroiderer was seen as a paragon of virtue. Waiting was tied to this activity – women embroidered, hoping for the return of the man to the home.
“I connect all these pain points with my thread and needle, and so I transform the traces of my past. The needle and thread, the accessories of the perfect housewife, have the function of repairing. As a healing ritual, stitch after stitch, I transform my intimate tremors, inner shocks coming from my childhood, into a cathartic work,” Bénitah says.
“Each picture tells its own story. Each picture raises a veil on the past. The project is a story about revelation. It’s a work related to emotion. For example, in one picture I relate my personal story to Little Red Riding Hood, the story of a little girl swallowed by a wolf. We are here in a transgressive story, in marked-out paths not to be trespassed in disobedience. I talk about childish fears. In another, I embroidered cockroaches that invaded my space but they have angels’ wings and the fraternal links protect me and save me.”
Carolle Bénitah’s series Photo-Souvenirs will be launched on July 9 at 5.30pm at the Prospektas Gallery.
The exhibition is partly funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture.
