My work draws on the power of the needle to transform ordinary fabrics into intricate large-scale works. Immigrating to Canada in 1988 and now living in Baie Verte, New Brunswick, the traditional Hungarian sewing techniques I have inherited and the ideas I work with – the wider history of textiles and of art, as well as evolving human cultures and relationships – together influence my creative direction. The series of embroidered tapestries I compose stand out due to their lexicon of fantastical creatures and human figures, as well as the floral and bestial motifs evoking life's dangers and unspeakable threats. Inspired by outsider art, medieval tapestries and children's drawings, my tapestries also have a humorous side. Sparked by the joy of memories of family, our rural home in New Brunswick, and of new life of summer seasons, my work is as much about the preciousness of such moments as it is about their loss and mutability.

Anna Torma was born in Tarnaors, Hungary, in 1952. She holds a degree in Textile Art and Design from the Hungarian University of Applied Arts. She is part of a post-feminist movement in the tradition of Judy Chicago, which has gone far to redefine the practices usually associated with women in Western culture. In 2020, Anna Torma received the prestigious Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts - Saidye Bronfman Award. She is a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, recipient of the New Brunswick Lieutenant-Governor's Award for Excellence in the Visual Arts and of the Strathbutler Award from the Sheila Hugh Mackay Foundation. For over 40 years, Anna Torma has exhibited her art in Canada and abroad. Many of her works are held in public and private collections around the world. In 2018, Calgary's Esker Foundation presented a major exhibition of the artist's work entitled Anna Thorma: Book of Abandoned Details. That same year, her work was featured in the exhibition Fait Main/Hand, at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.