In person/ Exhibition / Scented hand needlework
Breathing Patterns is an exhibition of hand-embroidered wall works and accompanying scent compositions that explore geometry as a living, embodied system. Created through slow, repetitive hand needlework, the embroidered forms draw on geometric patterning as a language of structure, care, and endurance. Each stitch accumulates time, marking the quiet labor of the hand while transforming rigid systems into intimate, tactile surfaces.
The geometric patterns suggest order and repetition, yet they are never mechanical. Slight irregularities—inevitable in handwork—introduce breath, vulnerability, and presence. These deviations become central to the work, emphasizing the body behind the pattern and the feminist lineage of needlework as both domestic labor and creative resistance.
Scent functions as an invisible counterpart to the stitch. Developed in dialogue with the embroidered forms, the fragrances move through space as thread moves through cloth—activating memory, emotion, and physical awareness. Rather than illustrating the visual works, scent extends them, allowing the patterns to be felt as atmosphere and duration.
Together, embroidery and fragrance invite a slower mode of attention. Breathing Patterns proposes making and sensing as acts of care, where repetition becomes meditative and geometry becomes intimate—measured not only by the eye, but by the body in time and breath.
No registration required!
Anna Novakov is an interdisciplinary artist working across textile, scent, and installation. Rooted in traditions of hand needlework, her practice draws on Serbian cultural heritage and the labor of domestic craft to explore memory, lineage, and embodied knowledge. She integrates olfactory elements to extend the sensory experience beyond the visual, creating immersive environments that engage touch, smell, and sound. Her work often examines themes of diaspora, transformation, and intimacy, positioning the handmade as both material and method. Through repetition and subtle variation, Novakov constructs poetic spaces where personal and collective histories quietly converge.