Vogue Gets Stitched Up!

Published in Galway Now, September 2011

Rosie Huntington Whitely's cross stitched Vogue cover

The art of cross-stitch embroidery is something which is rarely seen today and even less celebrated. As one of the oldest forms of embroidery, it like many other crafts seems to have been lost to a generation of techno-holics. However, Fine Art and Photography student Inge Jacobsen has shot to fame in recent weeks after images of her work went global. It was her stunningly intricate cross-stitched covers of Vogue magazine that caught the attention of the media and put a modern, high-fashion spin on the traditional craft. 

From the small town of Pribbaun, Co. Galway Inge and her family moved to Denmark for a number of years and then went on to live in the UK where she completed her secondary education. It was during her years in Denmark that she learned the old fashion craft. “Everyone in Denmark learns to cross-stitch in primary school but I have never heard of it being taught in Ireland or the UK.” Although passionate about art from an early age, Jacobsen never believed she would one day become a well known artist. Nor did she think she would be putting the ancient craft she learned as a child to use in her career!

Over the past couple of months Inge’s work has featured on a number of websites and publications across the world. The people at globalgrind.com were the first to contact her about her work then it was Vogue.co.uk and The Telegraph. Since then, the Galway native has been inundated with calls from people looking to buy and commission pieces that started out as a project for her degree. Jacobsen’s work is unlike anything the art world has seen in recent years. The painstakingly meticulous detail of each piece transforms the mass produced images of the glossy magazine into unique tangible works of art that offer a commentary on fashion, gender and marketing.  

With her mix of interesting themes and textiles, Inge has taken inspiration from two of her favourite artists Vik Muniz and John Baldessari. These eccentric conceptual artists are known for their unconventional approach to art as well as their political undertones, but what makes them stand apart from many other artists is the sense of humour in their work. The work of these artists pushes the boundaries of art and gives new light and meaning to old works. From Muniz’s Chocolate syrup Mona Lisa to Baldessari’s ‘God Nose’ installation, they allow room to poke fun at art while creating something truly original in the process. Jacobsen adopts this point of view throughout her work. “Although there are obvious political and gender related themes in some of my pieces, I want people to see the humour in them and not to take them too seriously.” Her quirky collages and woven pictures proffer an exploration in to “the different contexts in which photography can be used”.

Imbued by the work of her grandmother and her sisters, Jacobsen’s work combines the feminine pass times of old with the pass times of her own generation-embroidery and fashion. The marriage of the two seems to compare the values of past generations with those of the world today; an elaborate and time-consuming craft and the materialistic and disposable activities of modern society. Each cover takes up to a month of assiduous work. Measuring each line by eye, Inge makes the holes in the cover before she begins to sew the image in tiny X-shaped stitches. "I sew over the covers, which some might see as cheating, but I'm not doing this to show off my skills as an embroiderer, it is an exploration into popular culture and the culture of massed produced imagery." By creating these tactile bodies of work Inge suggests that she is "disrupting the easy consumption of these images" creating something unique of her own. She admits "I've always been drawn to Vogue, it's such an icon of feminine culture. I feel it represents fashion, elegance and luxury and by stitching the covers and campaigns it was a way for me to intervene in to a world I was not a part of...I wanted to get under it’s skin". 

Apart form her work on the covers of Vogue, Jacobsen has also made her mark on the campaigns of some of the World's greatest fashion houses including Chanel, Valentino and Yves Saint Laurent. These pieces are what Inge calls "Sewing Porn" or “Porn you grandmother would make!” While the campaigns depict images of women scantily clad or posing suggestively, the young artist stitches pornographic images over the advertisement. It aims to be a tongue-in-cheek comparison between the subtle provocation of the campaigns juxtaposed to the full frontal nudity of pornography and a slight mockery of how seriously the fashion industry takes itself. Her work also comments on the objectification of women in the fashion world and how the nature of these images goes unnoticed due to the high-brow profile of the industry, regarded instead as artistic illustrations.  

Blown away by the response her work has earned, Jacobsen is managing to stay focused on her studies. “At the moment my primary focus is with my final university project and exhibition, once I get that finished then I will start thinking about the future and where I want to take my art. I’m currently working on a number of commissions too so there is a lot of work but I’m just happy that people are enjoying what I’m doing.” With so much more to explore in her blossoming career, Inge is doubtful that she will continue with the Vogue covers for much longer. “I don’t think I’ll do many more covers, I don’t want it to get boring! But I will definitely keep mixing cross-stitch with mass produced images for the time being.” To contact Inge or to see more of her work visit her website www.ingejacobsen.com.