J. Sybylla Smith, In Conversation with Astrid Reischwitz
Episode #58, Summary
Astrid Reischwitz weaves the past and future of personal identity and cultural belonging into a rich tapestry in her first monograph.
Episode Notes
Spin Club Stories is a mixed-media reintegration of history, environment, society and self in an interactive dialog spanning centuries. Reclaiming the artform and impact of women’s handiwork, Astrid assembles collages of images and textiles, perforated with hand embroidery. Sourced from family heirlooms, she figuratively empowers her ancestors—and ultimately herself—to transform the future.
In this conversation, Astrid discusses, among other things:
Rediscovering culture
Culture as kaleidoscope
Selecting elements to tell her story
Textiles and embroidery as connective tissue
Allowing materiality to lead process
Considering art vs. craft
The role of “women’s work”
The shifting boundaries that define identities
Working with lost knowledge
Memory as a key to the future
Healing power of art, craft and story
Creating new visual language via abstractions
Referenced in the episode
Spin Club Stories by Astrid Reischwitz
Cultural Transfers in Dispute edited by Jörg Feuchter, Friedhelm Hoffmann and Bee Yun
Crossing Cultures: Family Memory and Displacement at Cambridge Art Association
Women and the Material Culture of Needlework and Textiles, 1750–1950 by Maureen Daly Goggin, Beth Fowkes Tobin
Boston Globe Review of Griffin Museum of Photography Exhibition
Lucie Foundation Photobook Award Finalist (2022)
Silver Winner, Budapest Foto Awards (2022)
The Fabric of Memory, Gallery Kayafas (2020)
The Subversive Stitch by Rozsika Parker
Make Thrift Mend by Katrina Rodabaugh
Stitch and Bitch: The Knitter’s Handbook by Debbie Stoller
“The Feminist Revival of Embroidery” by Stefanie Graf