Tags:

Spain-based artist David Cata's portrait project is both interesting and slightly disturbing, so viewer discretion is advised (if you read the headline, you should know what to expect). Instead of putting paint to canvas, Cata creates portraits of the people in his life using a needle, thread, and the palms of his hands.

While the needle only pierces the dead skin, the process of sewing and of unraveling the portraits is still painful to watch. In a statement on his website, the artist writes (roughly translated), "All the people we know make us somehow. Your image is projected upon us, reminding us of where we came from. Their lives become part of ours. Each stitch represents them over my skin, physical pain is no border, it unites us more, thinking that my hand has been marked in an act of affection. Thinking that once my hand touched her hand."