Handmade Bergman

On June 1, the exhibition *Handmade Bergman* opens at the Bergman Center. The exhibition features 16 cross-stitch pieces by Pia Bengtsson Melin, each depicting a scene from one of Ingmar Bergman’s films.

I’ve been embroidering since my teenage years, using many different techniques and materials, but cross-stitch is the one I always return to. The technique is rule-bound, repetitive, and fairly strict—but with room to take liberties when one wishes. It’s a hobby, a therapy, and perhaps even a mania.

That’s how Pia Bengtsson Melin describes the process of creating the cross-stitch works based on scenes from Bergman’s films, which she is exhibiting at the Bergman Center this summer. Sixteen fascinating, richly detailed scenes—captured in thread and frozen in time. She continues:

I always carry embroidery with me. I stitch at home, on park benches, in terminals, stations, and airports. I embroider on buses, airplanes, ferries, and every day on the train to and from work. I’ve stayed at a hotel in Tallinn with Max von Sydow, taken a steamboat with Liv Ullmann, and commuted week in and week out with Death folded behind my laptop in my handbag.

The exhibition opens on June 1 and runs through September 30.