Home / Art

Gorgeous Black Rhino Recreated with Intricate Fabric Collage

Using fabric as her paint palette, Kenyan-based artist Sophie Standing produces gorgeous portraits of animals on her sewing machine. The one-of-a-kind pieces are constructed by first sketching the image onto a canvas and then appliqueing an intricate collage of fabric on top. Standing then stitches linear details over her work using a variety of colored threads. This creates a painterly look to the piece that's a combination of meticulous technique and gestural, emotive marks.

Here, we see that Standing has used an extensive collection of fabrics to cover the hide of a large rhino. Some are bold floral patterns while others are geometric, and they seamlessly blend together and flow throughout the animal's body. Dark-colored thread defines its wrinkles and shadows to give definition to the form.

You can see some of the process of Standing's work below. While she specializes in animal imagery, she's also available for special commissions.

Sophie Standing website
via [Lustik]

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled 'Embroidered Life' that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
Become a
My Modern Met Member
As a member, you'll join us in our effort to support the arts.
Become a Member
Explore member benefits

Sponsored Content