Threads of Light: Chinese Embroidery from Suzhou and the Photography of Robert Glenn Ketchum

Intrigued with the possibility of integrating texture in his work, American landscape photographer Robert Glenn Ketchum has a long-standing collaboration with the Suzhou Embroidery Research Institute (SERI) in China. This splendidly designed volume describes the history of SERI with illustrations of its traditional embroidery and then proceeds to pair Ketchumís stunning photographic images with their exquisite embroidered counterparts. Essays locate the achievement of the Suzhou Embroidery Research Institute within the context of traditional Chinese embroidery and trace the willingness to innovate that has long characterized this remarkable institution.

Patrick Dowdy is curator for the Freeman East Asian Studies Center at Wesleyan University. Other contributors include Zhang Meifang, Robert Glenn Ketchum, and Jo Q. Hill.