Berend Strik travels through Africa, capturing the people, the architecture, the postcolonial scenes. Then he develops the images to massive proportions — about as wide as a basketball player is tall — and takes a needle to them. His stitched velvet makes idyllic scenes appear at once more glamorous and more phony than they really are — and sometimes more horrifying. See Strik's new collection of giant images at Tilton Gallery uptown through June 21. —Emma Pearse