Inspired by the rich textiles of Burma, French artist Agathe Bouton explores the beauty and meaning of these fabrics through her exquisite wood engravings.
Her pieces hint at lives led within these precious textiles as they are worn, washed, faded by the sun, lashed by the rain, torn, repaired and worn again.
The artist shows us that these deeply valued textiles bear witness to the lives of people who grow, play, work, celebrate and die within them. We are challenged to imagine moments of these lives – the special and the mundane.
The artist worked in shades of indigo, one of the natural dyes used in eastern Shan State. She played with superimpositions to add layers of color, carving radial lines and concentric circles to give the sense of a skirt flared out in full spin.
Working on large sheets of plywood that she engraves, she prints by hand onto handmade Burmese and Japanese paper, producing a unique piece of art each time.
Details: 2022, Relief print and monoprint on Japanese paper and stitching, mounted on raw, handmade Burmese mulberry paper, Signature lower right
