Hi Cécile, could you tell us a bit about yourself?

In your own words, you are a “thread visual artist from Paris,” and this simple sentence does somehow manage to describe your intricate work very well. You focus on embroidery and the use of thread – alongside the occasional splash of paint in the background or wool felting – to create deeply detailed portraits in woven layers of flowing colour. How would you describe the style of your art?

Before you were an artist, you were actually an acclaimed filmmaker, best known for your short films Le Grand Bain (2014) and Rag Doll (2008). What made you switch between creating something on-screen to creating something physical?

Why did you choose to work with thread?

I can imagine that even one piece of artwork uses an abundance of thread, considering the detail in your work. How much thread do you think you go through, roughly? And do you consider this to be more sustainable and economical than other methods of producing art?

Your 2019 series of artworks titled <<1988 was inspired by VHS footage of your old family home videos, and centres around the nostalgic feel of snippets of your past, some of the artworks even having a camera screen overlay threaded into the picture. Why did you decide to make this topic into a collection of your work? Is it a representation of memory in a physical form, as something you can now hold?

I wonder, as well, if thread accentuates this idea of nostalgia, as all of your work is hand-made, and these VHS images have a home-made and cosy quality. Is this something you considered with your trademark use of thread tying into homely memories?

<<1988 was displayed from last year in Mi* Gallery, Paris. How did it feel to see your work (and memories) on show, and be viewed by others?

Your current collection, titled Portraits of a Constant Dream, features the extreme close-up of women’s faces, the flow of their variety of lush skin tones through thread, and the harsh stares they have to the viewer, as if they know something the viewer does not, or have something to say. What is this unspoken sentence?

I noticed that this collection only features women. Is this because they have more, or different, experiences behind their eyes as opposed to men?

Each piece features two faces, which stretch out to the edges of the artwork, absolutely dominating the canvas. At a first glance, I thought the two faces on each piece were slightly different, but on closer inspection I realised that in every piece, the two faces on the canvas are of the same woman – one slightly drowned out by the other, but both staring at the viewer. What does this face behind the first signify, and why is it slightly obscured? Is it a commentary on parts of themselves they are less eager to share?

I read that you layer threads in these pieces, to create that flow of skin without it seeming blocky, and to put some life into these faces. How long does it take to create one of these? How many layers does it take to make something this lifelike?

What do you think is the next direction for your work? What could a future project possibly look like?