4 HANDS | mirror – Axel Morel

Little Bird Place / 2.04.2026 – 2.05.2026

The exhibition features works by Arthur Morel-van Hyfte, Axel Morel, Boryana Petkova, Fati Khademi, Hortense Thibault-Briffaut, Iskra Blagoeva, Kokimoto, Laetitia Bourget, Lyuben Domozetski, Lyubomira Valcheva-Nundoll, Nora Ampova, Pinaree Sanpitak, Romeo da Doruna, and Valentina Traïanova. 4 HANDS | mirror For the French artist Axel Morel, work on the exhibition 4 HANDS | mirror began two years ago, when he acquired a small drawing by Valentina Trayanova. In it, the Paris-based artist had drawn a little girl with a skull instead of a head — a solitary figure, at once unsettling and compelling. “For me, there was nothing frightening in this drawing. On the contrary — it awakened something deeply familiar: the image of that fragile, transitional stage when adolescence blurs the boundaries of identity,” says the artist. In his desire to give material form to his dialogue with the work, Morel created a replica of it in the technique in which he works — embroidery on fabric. Though it carries the same image, the drawing becomes something different — an entirely new work, a dialogue between two artists. This is how the idea for the project 4 HANDS | mirror was born, in which he creates mirrored embroidered versions of works by artists whose art moves him. They often address themes such as intimacy and the boundaries imposed by identity and the body. Taking on the role of curator, Axel Morel selects and invites the artists, studying their practices in search of the best way for them to be presented through the means of embroidery and textile. His mirrored embroideries are not simply a mechanical repetition of the source work through other means, but a form of deep and compelling dialogue. The exhibition at Little Bird Place includes 12 works by artists from Bulgaria, France, Canada, Afghanistan, Italy, and Thailand, with the original works presented alongside the artist’s embroidered interpretations. What matters here is not the pursuit of an exact reproduction of the original, but its mirrored deconstruction, in which the image contains thoughts and experiences connected both to the work and to its author. At the same time, the choice of a technique as unusual as embroidery allows for a new entry into the field of the selected artist. Embroidery has its own timeless artistic presence — it is both ancient and contemporary. The interpretation of a specific work through this technique grants it an almost sacred status. It recalls the tradition of the jeweller’s art, and the beauty of manual labour, which requires time and knowledge that the contemporary world is increasingly losing. Axel Morel is a French artist based in Europe and living in Bulgaria. He explores the boundaries between sculpture and three-dimensional embroidery, developing a unique artistic approach that combines tradition and innovation. A graduate of Métiers d’Art, he began his career as a costume scenographer at the Opéra Bastille in Paris, while at the same time exploring sculpture in all its forms. He also trained in gold embroidery, enriching his technical repertoire. In his work, Axel Morel goes beyond traditional sculptural techniques, integrating embroidery into three-dimensional structures — both figurative and abstract. This innovative approach creates works in which thread rises beyond the surface, forming organic, dynamic, and striking forms. — Vessela Nozharova *The exhibition is realized with the financial support of the National Culture Fund.