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Beadwork in triangular and geometric patterns of many colors, attached to a threaded “belt” and decorated at bottom with a row of cowrie shells dangling from gathered threads
Women's Work Introduction
Open book with a printed chart describing “A Scale of Stockings and Socks” on the left page, while the right features a small knitted sock

Instructions on needle-work and knitting

A print depicting several clothing lines of colorful, drying laundry hanging between two buildings and set against a bright blue sky of wispy clouds. Two women are laying on a bed of flowers and grass below the hanging laundry
© María Berrío. Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro

María Berrío (b. 1982)
Knitting the Wind
Silkscreen, 2016
The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, Print Collection

Knitting the Wind

María Berrío was born and raised in Colombia, came to New York City for college, and is now based in Brooklyn. In her paintings, one of which this print reproduces, Berrío uses watercolor paint and Japanese paper made especially for her. She tears the paper into strips and collages them into color-saturated images, often featuring women, as here. Berrío creates with her own narrative in mind but aims to inspire her audience. In a 2023 interview, referring to a recent series of paintings, she said, “… this is the highest praise I could receive, to learn that my storytelling allows a space for the stories of others.”

: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, Print Co…

Currently on View at Stephen A. Schwarzman Building

Items in Women's Work

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  • Beadwork in triangular and geometric patterns of many colors, attached to a threaded “belt” and decorated at bottom with a row of cowrie shells dangling from gathered threads

    Women's Work Introduction

  • A print depicting several clothing lines of colorful, drying laundry hanging between two buildings and set against a bright blue sky of wispy clouds. Two women are laying on a bed of flowers and grass below the hanging laundry

    María Berrío’s Knitting the Wind

  • Open book with a printed chart describing “A Scale of Stockings and Socks” on the left page, while the right features a small knitted sock

    Instructions on needle-work and knitting

  • Open book with text describing the marking stitch and including, below the printed text and on the facing page, two stitched samplers demonstrating that technique

    Instructions on needle-work and knitting

  • image not available

    Crown by Xenobia Bailey

  • Album open to a valentine of white cut paper in the shape of a lizard and foliage backed by red paper, with handwritten text in black ink across the bottom in two columns

    Elizabeth Cobbold’s valentines

  • Helmet-like mask of dark wood carved in the round, with a face at the front, and surrounded by a skirt of yellow and brown raffia strands

    Mask of the Sande Society

  • Beadwork in triangular and geometric patterns of many colors, attached to a threaded “belt” and decorated at bottom with a row of cowrie shells dangling from gathered threads

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