In 1996, the then-struggling Egyptian artist Ghada Amer made an unusual deal with an American lawyer: one of her paintings for a green card. In retrospect it was a good deal for both parties. Her permanent move to New York launched her career internationally and the "visa" painting, worth $4,000 at the time, is now estimated at $125,000. Ghada Amer working at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute (STPI) (photo Singapore Tyler Print Institute)

"Encyclopedia of Pleasure," by Ghada Amer (courtesy Gagosian Gallery, New York)

Amer has made a name for herself with controversial work of exquisitely embroidered pieces exploring female sexuality. She is working on an ambitious set of 13 prints at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute, pursuing a collaboration started in 2001 with the Iranian artist Reza Farkhondeh.

Amer said she enjoys collaborating with this longtime friend because she feels their works complement each other. "He sees things in shapes and I see things in lines," she said. "My work also tends to be systematic. By working with someone else it give me the possibility of breaking the system and going further." Amer and Farkhondeh at the STPI (photo Singapore Tyler Print Institute).

Given their explicit sexual nature, it remains to be seen whether the prints will be shown publicly in Singapore. At the end of the year, however, Amer is planning to show them at the Kukje Gallery in Seoul. Ghada Amer at the STPI (photo Singapore Tyler Print Institute).

In the meantime, two of her pieces, "Checkers" (2006) and "The Encyclopedia of Pleasure" (2001), will be presented on March 23 as part of Global Feminism, the first show celebrating the opening of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum in New York. An unfinished print by Amer (photo Singapore Tyler Print Institute).

"Checkers", 2006, by Ghada Amer (courtesy Gagosian Gallery, New York)

Amer's current work in Singapore continues the erotic themes she's been exploring for the last 14 years - images "lifted" from pornographic magazines, but blurred by the embroidery technique she uses on her canvas.

Ghada Amer working at the STPI (photo Singapore Tyler Print Institute)

Stitching in small point, she leaves the long, lose threads after knotting them on the front of the canvas, then uses a transparent gel to glue the threads on the surface. The effect is similar to paint dripping, a mass of abstract lines from far away that only reveals her erotic figures on closer inspection.

Ghada Amer and Reza Farkhondeh at work in the Singapore Tyler Print Institute (photo Singapore Tyler Print Institute)

It can take up to three months for Amer to complete a piece, so her body of work is limited. For her current work, she is confronted with the additional challenge of trying to use thread on paper, which is proving extremely difficult as the natural fiber breaks.

Lire l'article de Sonia Solesnikov-Jessop http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/12/features/jessop.php