Covers of a Teen Magazine From the Mid-2000s Recreated as Tiny Embroideries

Novem­ber 2005

When you were younger, did you ever read teen mag­a­zines? You know, the ones with the glossy cov­ers fea­tur­ing fresh-faced tween and teen musi­cian and actors? Scott Walk­er pays homage to them by embroi­der­ing their covers—complete with por­traits of peo­ple and text—in an impos­si­bly small scale onto cloth nap­kins. So far, he has stitched a trio of 2005, 2006, and 2007 issues of Tiger Beat. Each holds an incred­i­ble amount of detail. Divorced from the con­text of a nap­kin, you’d nev­er think it was just a few inch­es large.

In his artist state­ment, Scott explains, “[He] grew up with a mom who embroi­dered and a grand­ma who knit­ted, along with oth­er female fam­i­ly mem­bers work­ing in fiber crafts. Scot­t’s craft­work imi­tates these labors of love.” But, he goes beyond hon­or­ing those who car­ry these passed-down tra­di­tions. “Through his work, Scott grap­ples with the queer expe­ri­ence. He con­fronts mas­culin­i­ties that cause him dis­com­fort. His work is also nos­tal­gic, revis­it­ing a child­like ver­sion of him­self and cel­e­brat­ing aspects of him­self that he hid out of shame when in the closet.”

See what Scott is up to now on his Insta­gram.

Decem­ber 2006

March 2007