Jess De Wahls
Textile artist
Jess came originally from Berlin; now based in London, she has established her name as the enfant terrible of textile art. She creates intricate embroideries as well as hand-sewn relief portraits from upcycled clothing, a technique for which she coined the term ‘retex sculpture’. Couching subjects such as feminism, misogyny, fetishism and gender ideology between delicate pictures of flowers and lush botanics, she skilfully invites her audience on a journey to discover underlying narratives and hidden truths. Pushing the boundaries on what embroidery as a medium can do within the fine arts plays a major part in her prolific output. Her extensive body of work has been exhibited and sold internationally, and featured online as well as in print.