Meadows Under the Stars showcases Benini's poetic "narrative embroideries" made of multitudes of fabrics, threads, pearls, organza, shells, leaves and small found objects the artist collects during her daily walks in the City of Rome where she lives. Under her magical thumb, Benini transmits stories of a nature she reveres offering us a glimpse of the mysterious. After the first sense of wonder, pure and simple beauty emerges.

In her studio,  that looks like a treasure chest, she meticulously re-assembles the artifacts she says are "parts of her heart". For her, a book or an illustration, is like a magical door which opens into a private world of lights, shadows, colors and signs.

While collages have always been her passion, she discovered embroidery a few years ago, leading her to create "by commission only", a series of well saught-after embroidered portraits.

Benini belongs to those rare and few artists Agnes Martin wrote "depend upon perception alone".  

When I imagine a book or an illustration, I am no longer a grown-up thinking as a child, I am a child. I feel suspended in between two worlds, like in a strange state of Grace. For me, a book is a special place where my imagination can freely wander creating a universe full of echoes and resonances. I work with fragments of life, sparkles that narrate a story to which I give a second life. Sometimes, elements leave my books and travel to larger scale, like my embroideries. There, the repetition in my sewing has the power of an incantation, as if I was trying to align all the points of creation.

- Sophie Benini

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all Science.    

- Albert Einstein.

Sophie Benini Pietromarchi, is a French Italian established author and illustrator of children’s books. She grew up in France, where she was born, and she later moved to Italy and attended the University of Florence, majoring in literature and graphic design.  Her books, stories and images have been published in France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, India, Israel, China and South Korea. Benini has conducted workshops throughout Europe, at international festivals including Edimburgh International Book Festival, Fiera del libro de Madrid, Europalia Festival, Eurokidsfestival in Washington D. C., Jumpstart festival (India); and in various venues such as schools (Lycée Chateaubriand, The Art and Technology Academy Public Charter School in Washington D.C.), public libraries (Mediatèque de l’Institut Français de Rome, Library of Congress Washington D.C.), museums (Maxxi, Macro in Rome, Sackler and Freer Gallery of the Smithsonian in Washington D.C.).

In her workshops, she encourages children to explore a wide range of storytelling and illustration techniques. She lives in Rome with her photographer husband and their two children.  Benini is the author of "The Book Book" followed by "The Color Book", Tara Publishers.

Some of her work as an illustrator includes collaborations with best-selling authors Azar Nafisi (author of Reading Lolita in Teheran) and Frank McCourt (author of Angela’s Ashes) with the italian publisher Adelphi. In India, she has published two books with the multi-award winning publisher Tara Books (India). The Spanish Edition of The Book Book was included by the Mexican Department of Education into their national primary school curriculum.

In 2014 The Book Office of the Institut Français en Inde / Embassy of France in India invite Sophie, “as one of the finest author and illustrator of children’s books”, in the context of Jumpstart Festival to be held in New Delhi on 25th and 26th August 2014 and in Bangalore on 28th August. In her book La Legión Perdida, (Thule) 2015 she creates 19 micro mosaics of paper illustrations.

Sophie illustrated a historical book set during the Roman Empire, La Legion Perdida (2015, Thule, Barcelona). That book informed her decision to work with micro mosaics made of paper. In 2016, she created and conducted a workshop at the Mast Bologna Passage in India by composing a photographic image without camera with assemblage technique. In 2017 she create and conduct the workshops on persian miniature at the Sackler and Freer Gallery of the Smithsonian in Washington D. C. Adventures from the Persian Book of Kings and Heroes and Villains from the Book of Kings make them creating a double page of a manuscript. Her collection Maniphie of artist’s jewelry hand-woven were presented in Lisa Corti Milano and Lisa Corti Roma (2019).

Her "narrative embroideries" and "textile storytelling" were exhibited in solo and group shows in Milan M’innamoro Lisa Corti Emporium and in Rome, Galleria Bruno Lisi, Florence (Museo La Specola). RiVolti, Les Libellules, Bologna (2019).

Benini is presently working on new "narrative embroideries" destined for her new book, Le Petit Chaperon Rouge (Little Red Riding Hood) inspired by "Les Contes de Ma Mère l’Oye", a collection of literary fairy tales written by Charles Perraults and published in Paris in 1697.

She lives and works in Rome