13-meter Magna Carta embroidery unveiled at British Library

A 13-meter-long embroidery of Magna Carta was unveiled at the British Library on Thursday, to mark the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta.

The artwork, initiated by well-known British artist Cornelia Parker, depicts the Magna Carta Wikipedia page as it appeared last year on the document's 799th birthday.

More than 200 people, from prisoners to pop stars, were chosen to embroider the thousands of words, symbols and images on the webpage. Among those participants, Edward Snowden stitched "liberty" and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales embroidered "user's manual".

Parker said each stitching word or phrase is significant to each person she chose.

"I wanted to create a portrait of our age," she said, adding "all these people have their own opinions about democracy today and I thought carefully about the words they should stitch."

"For instance, Baroness Warsi (former Conservative minister), Eliza Manningham-Buller (former Director General of MI5), Julian Assange and numerous prisoners have all stitched the word 'freedom,' but all have different relationships to it," she said.

The embroidery will be exhibited at the library from May 15 to July 24, which is part of a major program of events, exhibitions and digital projects at British Library examining Magna Carta in this 800th anniversary year.

"I wanted the embroidery to raise questions about where we are now with the principles laid down in the Magna Carta, and about the challenges to all kinds of freedoms that we face in the digital age. Like a Wikipedia article, this embroidery is multi--authored and full of many different voices," Parker said.

"For visitors to the British Library this summer, Cornelia's piece will be a wonderful surprise -- an object of great craft and beauty, that offers a typically generous and original reflection on what Magna Carta means to different people in the digital age," said Roly Keating, chief executive of the British Library. Endit