Embroidered Ordinariness by Alicja Kozlowska

If you appreciate still-life paintings, you’re going to love seeing what can be achieved with still-life embroidery.

Polish artist Alicja Kozlowska has created the eye-catching series ‘Embroidered Ordinariness’, and we think it’s anything but ordinary.

An apple core, a takeaway coffee cup, banana peels, a takeaway container, empty bottles and cans and more can be seen in her series, which includes over 75 pieces of exceptional needlework.

Taking these every-day items and re-imagining them with her needle and thread, Alicja’s attention to detail leaves nothing to be desired. Look closely and you’ll see expiry dates, nutrition panels, sale stickers, even rust and flies on discarded food tins.

Though her work has a quirky playfulness to it, Alicja’s inspiration for creating this series is a little more nuanced than first impressions may suggest. Inspired by our everyday consumerism, she has specifically chosen globally recognisable brands that have ‘permanently entered the world of advertising’. 

Her goal throughout this project is to inspire others to realise that art can be found everywhere, and that even the most unsuspecting objects can inspire a unique piece of work.

Thanks to Alicja many of us will now be paying a little more attention to the seemingly innocuous objects we use daily to see where inspiration may strike.

You can read all about Alicja’s work in the article ‘Art from Everyday’ by Ansie Van der Walt from Inspirations magazine issue #107 or check out Alicja’s website HERE.