WorkArt & Culture

Hand-stitched pixel art of urban landscapes

When you think of the sewing patterns that you'd expect to find in your local arts and crafts store, you wouldn't be surprised to see cute and cheerful subjects and scenes of beautiful country meadows and innocent characters.

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All images courtesy of the artist. Via CB submission.

All images courtesy of the artist. Via CB submission.

But Australian artist Michelle Hamer uses hand-stitching to create sewn pictures of typical urban landscapes, including traffic signs, chain-link fences, bridges, buses, and billboards.

Using the traditional 'needlepoint' technique, which dates back thousands of years, Hamer creates these 'pixel art' pieces by taking photographs of various urban scenes, and then painstakingly transferring them onto a perforated plastic canvas, all by hand. She then maps the 'small in-between moments that characterise everyday life. Often focussing on text and signage within urban landscapes it highlights contemporary social beliefs, ideals and aspirations'.

This traditional technique exposes an ironic romanticism present between manual pixelization and the digitalisation of imagery in contemporary society. Discover more at www.michellehamer.com.

Hand-stitched needlepoint artwork depicting a yellow street sign against a pixelated urban landscape with buildings and blue sky
Hand-stitched needlepoint artwork by Michelle Hamer depicting a weathered brick building with a yellow billboard reading "Is this your New Home?" mounted on a chain-link fence
Hand-stitched needlepoint artwork depicting the brick facade of Challenge Australia storefront with blue signage and dark shop windows
Hand-stitched needlepoint artwork of an urban industrial building with brick walls, concrete grain silos marked with red "LOVA" text, and a dark tower against a blue sky with white clouds
Hand-stitched needlepoint artwork depicting an urban billboard with text "Only a little bit embarrassing" above a street scene with a person sitting on a bench
Hand-stitched needlepoint artwork depicting a large billboard with the word "CAN'T" in black letters surrounded by trees and urban scenery
Hand-stitched needlepoint artwork depicting a white utility pole covered in black text and red graffiti marks, set against an urban street scene with buildings and bare trees
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