Year: 2019 - ongoing
Edition: Unlimited
Size: Small
Dimension: 40 x 40 cm | 15.7 x 15.7 in
Number of stitches: over 110,000
Thread length: over 1.2 km | over 0.75 mi
Thread colours: 20
This mesmerizing and even spiritual embroidery is a part of the 8-piece series dedicated to Gua Tewet cave paintings. It can be purchased and admired as a single piece of 40 x 40 cm (15.7 x 15.7 in), or you can get more pieces from the series to create even bigger art piece for your home, office or business premises. The whole series as a set of 8 measures 80 x 160 cm (31.4 x 62.8 in).
This enigmatic embroidery recreates a detail of Gua Tewet Tree of Life, one of the oldest cave paintings known. On a deep brown background, there is a palm print with typical ornaments, probably depicting a specific ancient tribe role. On the left, we can see a part of a tree branch with a leaf – such branches extend through the whole painting, connecting it into the tree of life. And opposite to the branch, there is a big mystery – perhaps just a rock, or coincidental splash of hematite colour, or maybe a face with a remaining wicked smile? Our embroideries are so heavily detailed that you can explore this mystery yourself.
Cave paintings are probably the rarest and most enigmatic forms of human creativity, as no one knows why they were created and what their authors wanted to express. Some of them were visited and touched by only a handful of modern people. Gua Tewet cave paintings and pictograms, being over 10,000 years old, are one of the oldest in the world. They are also known as the Tree of Life and are thought to be related to early human spiritual activities.
Put this embroidered piece of human history into your modern cave.