If you had to pick the queerest needle-based artform, you might go for tattoos. But Maddi Vestrum is making the case that you should consider embroidery. 

“I’ve really delved hard into always bringing the queer element into my work,” says Vestrum, the artist behind Stab It Pretty, over video. “Part of that is that representation really matters—which also means body representation.” 

Stab It Pretty is Vestrum’s take on contemporary embroidery, with a firmly body-positive stance. Their multi-material works take on all shapes and forms—from silly to sincere—often stitched in eye-catching colours or daubed with bright watercolours. Everything from beads and fabric swatches to petals and autumn leaves find their way into the hoops, giving the hand-stitched works textural richness.

One of their recurring series is anatomy: textbook illustrations of genitalia adorned with tiny fabric flowers; brains painted in non-binary colours; or rainbows playing background to detailed heart muscles and bony skulls. 

The fascination with bodies began when Vestrum was navigating chronic illness.

“Anatomy was not a passion of mine until I got sick. And then it became very, ‘bodies are fascinating,’” they explain. “It’s been very nice to process through that, but also to share. I love the amount of times I’ve been at a market and someone sees a piece of art of mine, and then shares their own medical story or their own queer journey.”

It was while dealing with health challenges that Vestrum initially picked up embroidery. They had learned to cross-stitch as a child, but with a lot of time and not a lot of energy, they found that embroidery was a great way to stay occupied. 

“I needed something I could do with my hands, and it would keep my mind busy, but wasn’t very taxing,” they recall. “Eventually, I needed a way to survive and make money, so I started selling it because it was a way that I could support myself and set my own schedule.” 

Embroidery has long been overlooked as an art form due to its feminine connotations; beautifully stitched quilts or elaborately embroidered tablecloths rarely make it into museums. But Vestrum says that is starting to change. 

“There’s definitely a reclaiming,” they say. “In textile art and history, we don’t know who did [much of] it. And now I see embroidery artists who sign their work, and there’s now people putting an effort into history, and keeping credit… I love when I see an artist that’s really pushing that, because I think it’s important as another part of claiming those undervalued arts.”

A lot of the joy of Vestrum’s art comes from the unexpected nature of it. Within the confines of a hoop, they stitch bisexual bongs, pro-sex work slogans, and thoughtful illustrations evoking illness and grief. 

Their work is part of a growing wave of embroidery artistry that plays with the gap between progressive subject matter and the medium’s conservative reputation, with much the same energy that embraced cottagecore as a queer aesthetic. 

“I love that sort of juxtaposition of the very dainty, delicate—something I learned from my grandma’s neighbour—and combining it with these things that I know go against those more traditional values I was raised with,” Vestrum says. “I see it a lot now where it’s things like vintage china plates with swear words on them: taking something and making it queer.”  

Their own upbringing was very religious, in what they dryly describe as a “you’re going to hell if you were queer” kind of way. Part of why Vestrum makes such overt art is because they recognize how powerful it can be to see people living open, authentic lives when you yourself cannot.

“It’s been nice to have space and a community now to see that there are other options,” they say. “My art helps me process. And it’s also a bit of: if you’re out there and not able to be yourself, just know that one day there are people out there, and a community that can help.”

Stab It Pretty will be vending at Khatsahlano Street Party on July 6.