Geneviève Attinger is a self-taught French artist living in Brittany. Her work blends expression and form, where free-motion machine embroidery drawings complete textile constructions.
She uses textile as both palette and material — sensual, tactile and malleable — enriching her handling of it with techniques drawn from basketry and bobbin lace. These textiles carry a history, a memory; they are at once the object and the subject of the work. Their past life and the piece they become part of are closely intertwined.
Her work is figurative and narrative; from her years teaching biology and bioethics, she retains an interest in themes relating to life and society. She is particularly drawn to women — their feelings, their role, their place. She stages her characters to build a story, with thread and fabric as her vocabulary, her words/matter.
Since the 1990s, her work has been exhibited across Europe and internationally: European Quilt Triennale, Quilt National, Quilts=Art=Quilts, Art Quilts Element, Fantastic Fibers, Visions Museum of Textile Art and SAQA Global Exhibitions (touring).
It has been published and awarded, and is held in public and private collections in France and abroad — including the International Quilt Museum (USA) and the Husqvarna Viking Company (SE).
She is a member of France Patchwork and a Juried Artist Member of SAQA.