DEPOT Artist

Kirsten Sutherland

Kirsten Sutherland is an embroidery artist whose practice explores how textiles and symbolism combine to create objects with talismanic and protective qualities. Her lifelong connection to embroidery began in Dunedin, where she learned the craft from her grandmother and pursued it as a school subject. She went on to study Textile Design at Wellington Polytechnic/Victoria University and later completed a Master’s in Design, specialising in digital embroidery. Alongside her own practice, she has lectured in embroidery and textile design at Massey University.

Sutherland has contributed her expertise to film and television, including serving as the digital embroiderer for the costumes in The Hobbit trilogy. She has exhibited throughout Aotearoa, with solo exhibitions at Pātaka Art + Museum and other galleries, and her work is represented in the collection of Te Papa Tongarewa.

Her early exhibitions reflected her Celtic and Catholic heritage, featuring protective Madonnas and explorations of saintly relics and stitched icons. Later projects referenced Hex signs, used to invite good fortune and ward off malevolent forces. Her ongoing practice continues to explore traditions of protective symbolism in embroidery, while questioning the assumption that textile art derives value only through painstaking handwork.

Currently available works by Kirsten Sutherland