<strong>Sylvie Franquet</strong>, <em>The Wayward Sisters</em> (detail), 2016. Installation of 99 rag dolls commissioned in Egypt, embroidered with wisdoms, poems, thoughts and text messages.<strong>Sylvie Franquet</strong>, <em>Ok, Be Like That!</em> (detail), 2016. <br>Wool, acrylic and lurex on cotton canvas sewn into oak frame, 72.5 x 132 cm.Sylvie Franquet's studio. Photo: © Jonathan Greet.

SYLVIE FRANQUET

Sylvie Franquet.
Photo: © Jonathan Greet, 2016.
Sylvie Franquet, Oh no, honey, I’m an angel, I swear, 2015. Wool, acrylic and lurex on cotton canvas sewn into ash frame, 86 x 67 cm.


Sylvie Franquet read Arabic and Islamic Studies in Ghent and Cairo, and travelled extensively in the Middle East, Iran and North Africa. The art, history and poetry from those places are major influences in her work. As her core practice Franquet reworks found tapestries, showing a preference for those based on canonical works of art. She overlays these with further images and with found words from poets and thinkers, and text messages from friends. She cites Giacomo Leopardi’s Zibaldone da Pensiere, with its dense collation of thoughts, ephemera and philosophies, as influencing her approach. The laborious process of unpicking, repairing and reworking can take months, resulting in a metamorphosis achieved by the magic power of the needle.

Franquet’s amuletic accessories have been featured in many magazines, including British Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Elle. Her intricate tapestries were shown at the acclaimed 2014 exhibition, More Material, curated by Duro Olowu at Salon 94 in New York. She participated in the 2015 exhibition Feminin Pluriel at Fondation Dar Bellarj in Marrakech. reMembering, Franquet’s first solo exhibition, was presented at October Gallery in 2016. Her graffitilike reworked needlepoints exploring a feminist gaze, were accompanied by life-size textile poupees, assemblages evoking bird spirits and The Wayward Sisters, an installation of 99 Egyptian rag dolls embroidered with aphorisms for survival. In 2019, her major solo exhibition reCollecting, at The Harley Gallery, Nottinghamshire, evoked the strong bond of her femaleness with nature through needlework, plant embroideries and ‘Rock Women’ sculptures.

For sales enquiries please contact: Or call + 44 (0)20 7242 7367
View below for career highlights and works for sale by the artist.

 

FROM OUR STORE



 

SELECTED WORKS





 

SYLVIE FRANQUET

Born in 1961, Wervik, Belgium. Lives and works in London, UK.
Selected solo exhibitions
2019   reCollecting, The Studio, W11, London, UK reCollecting, Harley Gallery, Nottinghamshire, UK 
2018   L’Érotique (Comme un Partage de Joie)/ Erotic (As a sharing of Joy), Sometime Studio, Paris, France
2017   reMembering, October Gallery, London, UK
Selected group exhibitions
2022   Nomadic Resonance, October Gallery, London, UK
2020   Atmospheres, Artists of the Transvangarde, October Gallery, London, UK
2019   Enshrine Bath, Fringe Arts Festival, Bath, UK
Dream No Small Dream, Celebrating 40 Years of the Transvangarde, October Gallery, London, UK
2018   Jeu de Dames, The Parlour Gallery, London, UK
Enshrine, Crypt Gallery, London, UK
Artist Residence, swamp, De Zegge, Geel, Belgium
Transvangarde, October Gallery, London, UK
2017   Artist Residency and Exhibition, Jodhpur Mehrangarh Fort, India
A tribute to the fallen (Omaggio ai caduti), Artist Residency and Exhibition
On weaving, textures, and hyper-text. Craftsmanship and Contemporary Art, Fondazione Lac o Le Mon, Lecce, Italy 
2015   Feminin Pluriel, Marrakech, Morocco
2014   More Material, Salon 94, Bowery, New York, USA
2011   Group Show, Hewer Street Studios, London, UK

OCTOBER GALLERY ARTISTS