music and memory...

Astrid Phillipps has a small work in small stories, and it is oh so sweet. But exploring her other work has been exciting for me.


Astrid says this about her music and relationship inspired work:

... the thread and the needle are my instruments and the relationships are my fabric. I draw parallels between traditional embroidery, patchwork, cross-stitch and popular music.

In my earliest work, I have attempted to recreate the emotions and behaviors that fans feel toward their idols: their desires, their fervor and their worship. These very same emotions are also shared between men and women in a relationship. Having noticed this, I have since moved from sewing portraits of fans to sewing portraits of couples in a relationship. In doing so, I retained certain musical elements: be that an instrument (a representation of it, or a real one) or objects that can be associated with music. For instance, the embroidery tambour resembles a ‘tambour’ (drum).

I am interested in music and in the way certain songs bring back memories or evoke special moments from our pasts. I reclaim the lyrics of popular songs to tell stories. Stories of entangled relationships sewn by a knotted thread. Certain songs or lyrics have a deep impact within the collective consciousness. When we hear such melodies on TV or on the radio, we often relate to the meaning of the lyrics and transpose them to our everyday lives.

Her installation of a playable drum set is kind of amazing.



Considering how young Astrid is it will be very exciting to see where her work grows. There is indeed so much to how a song makes one feel or reminds one of such specific memories it is a them she can explore for a long time to come.

Sadly Astrid does not have a comprehensive website at all, but if you can read french you can follow her blog and scroll through past posts to see other works.