BRODADORA POETA SOC

Cotton thread embriodered on 100% organic cotton textile 430×130 cm

2026 

This work was produced during my 2026 residency at Can Serrat. During a walk in the Montserrat mountains, our Catalan guide mentioned a poem while introducing local plants. The poem, written by Jacint Verdaguer and later adapted in song by Joan Boada, reads:
Llaurador poeta soc                           I am a farmer, a poet,

i no tot faig feina ben feta.              and not everything I do is well done

Si llaure com un poeta                       If I farm like a poet,

escric com un llaurador                     I write like a farmer.

The poem establishes an identification between the farmer and the poet, linking manual labor and writing through a singular male subject.In response, I adapted the poem by replacing the figure of the farmer with that of the embroiderer, shifting the focus from a traditionally male form of labor to a practice historically associated with women and domestic craft.

Brodadora poeta soc                           I am an embroiderer, a poet,

i no tot faig feina ben feta.              and not everything I do is well done

Si brodo com un poeta                       If I farm like a poet,

escric com un brodadora                     I write like a embroiderer.

While rewrote the text, the embroidery itself became a collective act. The poem was stitched onto a tablecloth by fourteen women - writers and artists who were in residence at the time. What began as a textual intervention evolved into a community process shaped by shared time, conversation, and manual repetition.

The tablecloth operates both as a domestic textile and as a surface of gathering. As we sat around it, stitching the lines together, authorship expanded beyond the written word. The work shifted from individual rewriting to collective inscription.
In this project, writing moves from page to fabric, and from a single voice to a shared gesture. The poem is no longer only read; it is held, surrounded, and materially sustained by many hands.

Credits: Paola Amengual / Sophie Béhal / Valentina Bobbo / Paola Caballero Daza / Martina de Dios / Didem Erbaş / Louisa Di Felice / Marit Tunestveit Dyre / Sarah Goodchild Robb / Flor Dacal / Luis Martinez / Tara McGinn