Yto Barrada’s Sewing Exercises (threadless drawing on paper) lists exercises given to apprentice seamstresses in Tangier, designed to teach them how to write lines on a machine before moving on to work on fabric. These lessons recall Friedrich Fröbel’s educational toys as much as — after the artist’s negative inversion – Frank Stella’s Black Paintings (1958−60), shifting their documentary nature to a more ambiguous status. But while Fröbel’s pedagogy is intended to develop autonomy and foster emancipation, what sometimes awaits these young apprentices is more the low-cost labor market, dominated by the large ready-to-wear groups that have relocated their factories to Morocco.

We publish these exercises in the form of posters, a recurring practice of Yto Barrada, winner of the 2022 Queen Sonja Print Award , which rewards the artist for the whole of her printed work.

Practical information:

10 folded posters, open format 46 x 65 cm
Offset printing on Munken Lynx 90g (posters)
and screen printing on Papago Rose 240g (cover)

Limited edition of 120 copies numbered and signed by the artist

On sale on our online store