Alighiero Boetti’s De Bouche à Oreille (1993) is a striking example of his celebrated Arazzi – vividly embroidered grids of letters that conceal phrases for the viewer to decipher. The title, which translates as “by word of mouth,” provides the key to the hidden text, spelt out through seemingly arbitrary sequences of letters, each set against a contrastingly coloured square. This work is distinguished by tonal variations in the form of vertical striations, which animate the letters and give them a shimmering quality.

The origins of the Arazzi can be traced to 1971, when Boetti first travelled to Kabul, Afghanistan – a pivotal journey that marked the beginning of a decade-long relationship with the region. Captivated by the culture and craftsmanship of Afghan artisans, he began commissioning local embroiderers to realise his mosaic-like word grids and geopolitical maps. These collaborations, initially centred in Kabul, continued until the Soviet invasion of 1979 forced production to relocate to Peshawar, Pakistan.

Working from Boetti’s templates and under his direction, the embroiderers employed the labour-intensive bokhara stitch to produce the Arazzi, with individual works often taking months or even years to complete. The Arazzi embody Boetti’s fascination with cross-cultural collaboration and his critical interrogation of conventional notions of artistic authorship. They also express the dualities central to his practice: order and disorder emerge through the juxtaposition between Boetti’s templates and the chance variations introduced by the artisans’ processes.