Belinda Pollard

Maison Abel

Gold thread embroiderer

Tracing nature with threads

Belinda transforms her love of landscapes and topography into poetic textile art
She is an embroidery artist with a perspective linked to her training as a visual artist
Her pieces were first exhibited at the Résonnances fair in Strasbourg in 2022

Belinda Pollard explores the world around her through the slow craft of gold thread embroidery. She spent several years working in film production before returning to embroidery, a craft passed down to her by both her grandmothers. “I have had thread in my hands for as long as I can remember, making characters and building little worlds,” Belinda says. In 2016, she opened her studio in the South of France, where she creates tactile, expressive works inspired by light, landscape and her emotional connection to places. “What drives me is keeping this slow craft alive, encouraging people to pause and reflect on the work of the hand, and the quiet intelligence behind each gesture,” Belinda explains.

Interview

What are your main sources of inspiration?: I draw from nature and landscapes, but also from cinema, which is a large part of my life. These influences inspire the transparency, layering, movement and particular visual language of my works.
How do you express your influences in your work?: I experiment extensively with materials through layering, observing textures and studying the shine of threads. I recently created a moving landscape made up of 85 embroidered elements that cast shifting shadows on the walls.
What was a turning point in your journey?: It was when I presented my embroidered wall pieces for the first time at the Résonances fair in Strasbourg in November 2022. Until then, my work had never left my studio.
Has your practice taught you something about yourself?: I have learned patience, and that failed attempts and dead ends are part of the journey. I adopt a 'let it rest' attitude. In moments of doubt, there are often dormant ideas that resurface at just the right time.

Belinda Pollard is a rising star: she began her career in 2016 and she started teaching in 2019