an army of rats is still an army

„…Die Wanderratten, o wehe! Sie sind schon in der Nähe. Sie rücken heran, ich höre schon Ihr Pfeifen – die Zahl ist Legion…” (from the poem „The brown rats“ by Heinrich Heine) The rats have already approached the gallery, and, even if ‘only’ made of fabric, are still quite disturbing. Mary-Audrey Ramirez crafts sculptures from fabric and sews, or rather embroiders, pictures. She breaks with the traditional notions that this material represents and, looking at these weird creatures, one is torn between a sensation of shivers and wanting to cuddle them. Her world of images that reflects our fears as well as our desires, often depicts, as against the delicate starting material, brutal or broken characters and subjects. The artist crafts the embroidered pictures, that sometimes serve as sketches for subsequent works, with the sewing machine. Inspired by scenes from games she intuitively moves a piece of fabric beneath the needle of the sewing machine whereas the rattling of the machine has the same calming effect on her as the ‘shooting in all directions’ during a game. From initial scribblings of threads she creates strange worlds and narratives where mythical creatures and hybrid figures fight each other, demonstrate power or appear as humble. Mary-Audrey Ramirez, born in Luxembourg, studied at the UdK Berlin and was a master student of Prof. Thomas Zipp. She lives and works in Berlin.