In this episode of NeedleXChange, I interview Renan Estivan, a São Paulo-based contemporary embroidery and textile art artist known for queer tapestries that put the male body at their centre.

In Part 1 we get into his mum's Arraíolos rugs and the embroidery tradition she passed on, choosing design at UNESP over art, how the pandemic in Salvador collided with a pixel-art drawing to spark his first erotic cross stitch, his shift onto the tufting gun, and the Brazilian tapestry lineage running from Kennedy Bahia and Tropicália through Leonilson.

Links:

Website: renanestivan.com

Instagram: renan. ...