

david cata sews portraits of his family into the palm of his hand

all images courtesy of david catá

following a hat-tip from one of our readers who commented on our popular feature of eliza bennett’s self-inflicted sculpture, designboom was led to the work of spanish artist david catá who also uses his body as a canvas for writing an autobiographical diary. the performance cum-sculptural self-inflicted pieces that make up the series ‘a flor de piel’ are portraits of the faces of people who have left their mark on the artist’s life — family, friends, partners and teachers — sewn into the palm of his hand. ‘their lives have been interwoven with mine to build my history’ catá says, ‘every moment lived stays in the memory to finally be forgotten. somehow, this fact is painful, since there are only material things and traces that people leave behind.’ the woven flesh work establishes a symbiosis between union, separation, pain and love — a performatic and symbolic action of loss, and preserves the memories through memorial, corporal and videographic footprints.

watch the video below to see catá at work, stitching his hand with the portraits of his loved ones:



mi vida a flor de piel, 2013



‘mi novia tamara’



‘mi primer profesor de fotografia, manuel sendon’



‘mi prima anita’



‘mi hermano javi’



‘abuelo cata’



‘mi profesor de aceordeon, lino’



‘mi prima maria’