Artist, educator, curator & researcher · Co-Director, Ponte d’Arte
Fibre, embroidery & stitched textile with charred found objects from the 2017 wildfires; drawing on dyed silk
Image to come(Missing info)Exhibited in The Fire and After (2017–present)
A series made in the aftermath of the 2017 wildfires that swept Ponte da Mucela, in Portugal, where de Villiers lives. Mixed-media drawings of fire-ruined objects — a burnt electric saw, mangled power tools — hang beside the blackened found objects themselves, with rubble gathered along the gallery floor.
Much of the work was made during the 2020 lockdown: the drawings, the dyeing of the silk grounds and some of the stitching were worked on the terrace in front of the studio. It was shown in Feito & re-Feito (2024) at the Garagem Exhibition Centre, Ponte da Mucela.
© 2026 Celia de Villiers