Tag: Art

Categories
Art Fashion

“Syria’s surviving threads”: How Al Aghabani bought Syrian embroidery to the fashion world.

Bringing Syrian culture to the world of fashion one thread at a time, Al Aghabani can be found on Etsy and Instagram, selling intricate and colorful embroidered pieces of clothing and accessories. Named after a traditional Syrian embroidery technique passed down from mother to daughter, they were able to transfer this art typically used for silk tablecloths onto various items, one of the most original being masks. Behind this innovative idea, can be found Tasneem Naffakh, a young Syrian woman currently living in the United States of America. She initially learned the craft through books and her mother’s guidance, and today works toward introducing this interesting part of her culture to the world. To know more about the thought process and the work that went toward making this Etsy shop a reality, there is only one person to ask, and that is Tasneem Naffakh herself.

Q: How did you start working with embroidery, considering that it’s a traditional craft practiced only by a selected few?

A: So for the pieces, I am selling right now, I am not the one who embroiders them although I do embroider – Syrian women do! Aghabani, or the type of embroidery featured on my pieces, is a handicraft only made in Syria. It is made by a woman on the outskirts of Damascus, particularly in the region of Douma. Once a woman in Syria from Douma is married she gets gifted a sewing machine and makes her living by guiding the machine to make intricate and beautiful designs. The designs are often inspired by the Syrian landscape – trees, flowers, etc.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMYJ7dJBFaP/?hl=en

I decided to work with Aghabani pieces because I was looking for textiles that were traditional to Syria. I initially did this research to seek out the textiles because I’ve always wanted to get into fashion and I wanted to bring in my culture and heritage to the brand I was building.

Aghabani and the embroidery done on the high-quality cotton is typically marketed and sold as tablecloths – but no one is buying tablecloths anymore. That’s when the idea came to me that I could transform the artwork into wearable clothing!

Q: Where do you get your inspiration for your various pieces of clothing and accessories?

A: I get my inspiration for my pieces and their style by looking at traditional Syrian folk wear. I go for styles that are more simple so they can properly showcase the embroidery!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CEfwo5Vpade/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Q: What pushed you to add this traditional art to the modern industry of mask making?

A: I started to make masks with the Aghabani because I realized everyone could own Syrian women’s art! Everyone was wearing a mask and many were looking to celebrate cultural heritage and people through it!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHyp3nXpvdq/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Q: What is one project, you dream of making with your embroidery skills?

A: Although I’m just selling what I sew now, I’d love to sell works I embroider with traditional cross stitch or tatreez. I want to tell stories with my work and infuse meaning. I would also like to come out with a full collection sometime soon that also utilizes Syrian brocade and silk!

Q: what do you eventually wish to achieve with your work?

A: With my work, in the end, I want to help revive and revitalize the Syrian textile industry. I want the artwork to live on and I want the Syrian people to have the chance to rebuild.

Categories
Art Entertainment Music

The road to winning Eurovision 2021: Måneskin’s rise to fame.

Every year, all of Europe eagerly hold their breath, waiting to see, which country will take the Eurovision prize home this year. Many see it as an opportunity to put their country on the map or bring their music career to a whole different level. Numerous world-renowned artists found their international fame by winning the famous contest, such as Celine Dion and ABBA, however, winning the Eurovision contest is no easy feat. This was never clearer than with 2021 Eurovision winners, the Italian rock band Måneskin. From their participation in the Italian ex factors to disproven drug allegations, this band’s road to fame is long, arduous, and full of important milestones, despite their young age.

 Lead vocalist Damiano David, bassist Victoria De Angelis, guitarist Thomas Raggi, and drummer Ethan Torchi met in a high school in Monteverde, Rome where they were young students in this same establishment. There they decided to form a band in 2016 and initially used to play in private when they decided to partake in the pulse competition for new bands -that they later won-, which is also when they choose the band’s name. According to the band members, they came up with the name by asking Victoria De Angelis, who is half Danish, to say some Danish words, and so they chose Måneskin, which means moonlight.

This pushed them to start writing their own songs, and eventually lead them to perform in the Felt Music Club & School .
After that, they took their music to the street by becoming buskers and they performed all around the city of Rome. By then they started to participate in more contests and live shows and training hours per day. As they grew older, they amassed more experience, and in 2017, they went on to win second place in the Italian talent show The X Factor where they covered many English songs such as “Somebody Told Me” by The Killers and one original song “Chosen”. This same song was then released as their first single which was included in their first EP by the same name which consisted of songs they covered in the X Factor. It was certified platinum by the Federation of the Italian Music Industry and it jump started their national career.

On 23 March 2018, they released their first Italian single ” Morirò Da Re “, which was then included in their first original album “Il Ballo De La Vita ” (The ball of life) which topped the Italian charts. Additionally to the album, they also released a film documentary called “This is Måneskin” as a way to promote themselves and their album. They released three more songs in 2019: “Fear for Nobody“, ” L’altra dimensione” and “Le parole lontane“, while simultaneously going on their first European tour in Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom with more than 140,000 tickets sold. They then released their seventh single “Vent’anni” while working on new material in London.
In March 2021, they won the Sanremo Music Festival 2021 with the song “Zitti e buoni “. After that, they announced their second Album  ” Teatro d’ira ” (Theater of wrath).

On 22 May 2021, they were announced as the winners of the 2021 Eurovision contest while representing Italy, again with the song « Zitti e buoni », winning a total of 524 points – 206 from the jury and 318 from the public. A few moments after their win, however,  online speculations raised the question of whether Damiano, the lead singer of the rock band, was taking drugs, specifically cocaine, after seeing footage of him with his head near a table during the contest. This question was directly asked by a journalist to the singer during the press conference that followed the win. Damiano David – who considered the accusation to be incredibly offensive, and overshadowing their win on the BBC breakfast – formally denied these accusations during the conference and willingly provided a drug test, which turned out negative, as evidence.
This didn’t stop their success, the video of them singing their winning entry in the Eurovision is currently number 1 trending on YouTube, and the song itself has entered the top 20 in many European countries and is now top 9 on the Spotify global chart.
According to the band « this is just the beginning » and they will be going on tour and releasing new music as stated by Vitoria de Angelis in their first reaction to their win.

They are now preparing their next album which is to be released by the end of the year, with at least four concert dates in Italy, a tour in Italy and Europe starting in March 2022 and they have officially released their merchandise today, which were sold in 28 minutes. With all these plans ahead and their blossoming international fame, the world is going to be seeing more of Måneskin soon.   

Categories
Art Literature Movies

Venus Ashu, the creator behind the short movie “Grown up”, opens up about her journey, inspirations, and more.

In the halls of the Royal Holloway University, or maybe with a group of friends on a stroll in the streets of London, you’ll find a young woman who is trying to get her art out for the world to see. Venus Ashue, this 20 years old literature student, isn’t only a skillful writer but she’s also a passionate and innovative photographer and filmmaker. Her artwork consisting of a collection of photo portraits, poetry, and 1 minute short movies serves as ways to channel the beauty and the reality of life which is not often represented and they can be found everywhere from TikTok to Instagram.  But now, she’s taking her work to the next level, with her newest short film called « Grown-up ».  We went directly to the source to try and learn more about Venus Ashu and how her creative mind works.

Q: Considering that your main field of study is literature, How did you start working in filming and photography?

A: Okay so, yes I started with literature because I just wanted to be a storyteller, I’ve been telling stories for a long time, I grew up doing it. Since the age of ten, I would read a lot and just write little things and then it became something I was serious about. Then at around the end of sixth form, I saw a lot of my friends studying photography and I liked the fact that they could do all these things with photos, so I wanted to experiment and try using photography as another way to tell stories.

Q: How do you combine all of these fields throughout your projects to create your specific brand of art?

A: Funnily enough, a lot of my inspiration does come from other works of arts, sometimes music and sometimes film but a lot of times it comes from what I study of English literature. For example, Venus, one of my self-portraits [the pink one], was named after the poem Adonis and Venus by Shakespeare which we studied in class. You wouldn’t think of it, but something in that poem bought an idea to life and I was just like « yeah, I need to tell this story through photography ». So a lot of it intertwine and influence my ideas, And vice versa, my photography influence what I write.

Q: From where do you draw the inspiration you use for your work?

A: Oof, anything that just sparks my imagination. A lot of it comes from studying different forms of literature but it also comes from films and music videos. For example, f the world music video, that gave me the idea of doing my own short movie, grown-up. A kind of montage-y … what’s the word…mémoire short film. For my photography, again, it can literally be anything, from my friends to a moment that happened in my life, or like, [laughter] a scene from Narcos if you guys are familiar with that show. It starts with a plethora of treads, of ideas from everywhere and I see what I can make of them.

Q: What can you tell us about your newest short movie and what audience do you seek to reach with it?

A: My short film, it’s a coming of age, teen movie. I think it’s a genre I really like because there’s just so much going on with teenagers that people don’t understand. It’s more than just the parties and the romance and this kind of…rebellious nature. It’s a lot more, it’s the stage in life where everything is just chaotic and you’re just trying to find your feet and there‘s just so much going on. So with this short film, I really want to explore that with relationships and how it’s very difficult for teenagers to establish relationships when they’re trying to find themselves and how narcissism is involved and how toxic it can become with this whole  « me, me, me » looking for my self thing. That’s a big theme we want to talk about with this short film and what I really love about this project is that we want to be able to include loads of different people. My first short film was a lot of just my friends and people that I knew but this time I wanna work with new creators, people I have no ideas about and just be able to network with new people and showcase new talents because I feel that, that is a really important thing especially for creators of color. I really want to use TikTok as a form of advertising for it because even though It will be on YouTube, I want to be able to bring as much traffic as possible and just keep on gaining a bigger audience because these stories need to be told, especially from the perspective of creator of color. I definitely want it to be a big thing, I don’t want it to be an annual thing of just always doing these massive projects with a whole new casting crew to just completely tell new stories with new faces etcetera.

“Grow up”- Trailer

Q: what do you wish to achieve through your artworks, both in the short and the long run?

A: The reason that I do anything and the reason why I am a storyteller and do what I do, at the core, is because I want to help people and change their life. I feel like art has the ability to move us to do wonders, to move someone to feel and I think once we have the feeling, the emotions, that is energy in motion. And energy makes up everything around us and that’s just physics. Everything around us is energy and once someone has that energy, it moves them to do things, it’s a domino effect. if I’m putting out a positive message, that initiates change, then that will allow someone else to also initiate change too. I feel that this is so important in this society where everything is just … absolute crap [laughter]. At times it feels like nothing is changing but art can do that for you. It has done that for me in the past. When I watched the TV show when they see us, that absolutely moved me to tears. That energy moved me to be focused on creating art for people of color And by doing that I’m giving other people a voice. By giving people a voice they are able to express themselves which will help someone else do the same. Do you see what I mean by the domino effect? I think once we start creating art as a message, something that moves people, that makes the world a better place, that’s all we can do really [laughter], that’s a really, really amazing way to leave our footprints in the sand and allow others to do the same and join this whole journey of positivity and love and shedding light on the voices of other people. That’s what I wish to do with my art.

You can find Venus Ashu on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and her website :

Categories
Art Entertainment Music

“People disappear here”: Halsey’s Artworks on sale for the first time in her career.

For fans of the artist, it’s no secret that music is not the only creative outlet through which Halsey enjoys expressing herself. Her passion for painting has shown itself in her music career on multiple occasions such as The “Graveyard (time laps)” music video or her performance of « Eastside » on Saturday night live. In her newest art venture, however, fans and admirers of her art now have the chance to acquire one of her pieces for themselves. On the 12 of march, the artist announced that she will be putting some of her artworks on sale for the first time through the Nifty gateway, with a portion of the sale going to My Friend’s Place (MFPLA), an organization for homeless youth and Carbon 180, which works to fight global warming.

https://twitter.com/halsey/status/1370822746154885121

The artworks in question called « People disappear here » , consists of one principal hand-painted piece with an animated version of it as well as multiple animations of the painting’s characters. According to Halsey, these creations were inspired by the multiple episodes of sleep paralysis and their demons which she has been experiencing a lot since the beginning of the quarantine. She says that « After seven years of bed surfing hotel rooms around the world, adjusting to my own pitch-black cave in California had a little bit of a learning curve. »

This state of mind becomes more than apparent with the disproportionately grotesque and almost human creatures dispersed through the impressive art piece and animations put up for auction on the 17th of march.  The vivid colors and almost clay-like texture of the animated monsters along with the eerie music in the background of each bring to life all of the artist’s strange nightly companions whether that would be a «toddler TV programming evil dentists » or a child born with huge claws.  Fan’s of horror video games might find this style a bit familiar.

Overall, the collection was well received and 5 days after the release of the art pieces, the main art work and most animations were sold out during the silent auction and their owners are not accepting offers. However, a lot of character animations are still available for sale on Nifty from the previous buyers, so there still is hope for fans who still wish to acquire a piece of Halsey’s collections. The price range goes from 2, 388 $ to 10,710 $.

Categories
Art Entertainment

Five underrated artists that will spice up your Instagram feed.

From covers to jewelry making, Instagram has always been a great place for people to showcase their work and talents.  Indeed, the popularity and accessibility of this platform make it perfect for those that seek to attract people from all over the world. However, the relationship between the poster and the viewer is one of mutual benefit. Most people follow artists on Instagram because they genuinely enjoy or get intrigued by the person’s work. After all, what is art without someone to enjoy it?  With that being said, there is also a certain pleasure in discovering new talent on  Instagram and adding them to your collection of great artists to follow. The hunt for the next best thing never ends so here is a list of underrated painters, street artists, cartoonists, and illustrators that are worth checking out.

Lauren (@laproxie) :

The 21 years old digital artist is not only a great cartoonist but also a creative storyteller. Indeed, she does not only create beautiful illustrations but also draws a multitude of comic sketches from among us inspired panels to her comic Brutal havens. Her comics aren’t only hilarious and intriguing but they are also very inclusive and unexpectedly relatable for a comic about demons, angels, and immortal gods. Come for the beautiful graphics and stay for the funny and sweet characters! Careful, however, you might get to attached to the gods and fallen angels, you’ve been warned.

Jack Carden (@jack.carden.art) :

Jack Carden is a young artist from New Zealand who got his fame from the platform TikTok for his strange and unconventional art style. Indeed, the gothic-inspired pieces of works found on his page can seem strange at first glance. But still, capture people’s attention with its alluring rejection of what we generally perceive as art.

Read more “Five underrated artists that will spice up your Instagram feed.”
Categories
Entertainment Movies

What we know of Emma Watson’s alleged retirement from the movie industry.

Lately, the famous Harry Potter actress has been trending on Twitter and the news of her alleged retirement has reached far and wide from TikTok to Instagram, putting her fans in a frenzy. It has also been the topic of discussion of many news outlets. But things are a little blurry these days and people don’t know what to believe. Here is what we know as of now about the 30 years old artists’ activities or lack thereof.

For a few years now, The actress has been quiet on social media, choosing instead to take some distance from them. This didn’t stop her from continuing to participate in series of blockbusters fit of the woman who made our childhood with movies such as Bling Bling, The perk of being a wallflower, Beauty and the Beast, and lately, Little Women in which Timothée Chalamet co-starred.

The news of her retirement initially saw the light of the day in a daily mail article where they reportedly said that her acting was “dormant”. This was understood by many as the actresses leaving her acting career behind.

This, however, was quickly challenged and questioned by many and rightfully so. According to what Emma Watson’s agent, Jason Weinberg, told Entertainment Weekly “Emma’s social media are dormant but her career isn’t.” The British actress is only taking a well-deserved break to supposedly spend some time with her boyfriend Leo Robinson who she’s been dating for a little more than a year.

In conclusion, as of now what we know is that the actress is taking some time off from the industry she was a part of since childhood. This, however, doesn’t necessarily signify any permanent withdrawal from the world of acting itself.

Categories
Art Entertainment

The boy who ruins paintings: Jack Carden’s say on anti-art, Dadaism and his future projects.

Between the millions of videos posted daily on TikTok can be found a blooming community of artists and art historians.  But lately, it’s in disarray, the balanced established have been shaken, by a…boy who ruins paintings..? Let me elaborate, Jack Carden, a 19 years old artist from New Zealand, has sparked both Horror and admiration in the hearts of every person that came across his pieces. The fine art and art history first-year student has started exhibiting his artwork at Christchurch’s The 013 gallery in 2020 and has now accumulated a big following on social media in a short time despite the controversy that surrounds his works. Having turned the heads of many, a big number of questions arose regarding the artist and his work. As such, we went directly to the source, Jack Carden himself, in hope of finding some answers.

Content warning: explicit language.

Q: How did you come to work with this style of art and from what do you draw your inspiration?

A: I have been drawing in this style since I could hold a pen. Something about messy left-handed handwriting and Scribbly drawings has always been a part of my bookwork growing up throughout school. In year 12, I was forced into art -I wanted to do chemistry- due to a timetabling issue at my school. I studied it for 2 years of IB. It quickly became my best subject. I researched Basquiat, Damien Hurst, Warhol, Keith haring, Jenny Saville, Hannah hock, John pule, the Dadaism movement, and so on. From these artists, I learned a lot about the intentions behind art, as well as ways of expressing oneself without limits – enter the whole of neo-expressionism. 

This combined with ideals from Dadaism and my neo-gothic touch, developed my style as it is known today.

@pamiathat

#art

♬ original sound – Jack Carden

Q: Anti-art is quite a vague concept, how would you say it applies to your pieces?

A: I would say anti-art applies to my work on a few different levels. Firstly, the most recent series of works I have done is based on Dadaist ideals – this “rejection of art”. The concept of taking pre-existing artworks that are not mine – f*cking them up – and then selling them for thousands… it’s almost like one sarcastic p*sstake of the art world, especially the “art world” of TikTok. And it’s beautiful. On a more simple level, the act of fucking up artworks is in itself is “anti” art. The final level however is irrelevant to the art I make. It’s about myself as an artist – and my approach to art. I am going against the traditional route to becoming an artist. I’m a fucking kid on TikTok – not a 60-year-old man painstakingly painting beautiful and intricate oil landscapes only to be discovered and praised after he dies. My approach to the art world fundamentally does not fit within its norms. Which is perfect. I love it. Because fuck the traditional path. Literally who the f*ck cares about that anymore? It’s a new era – so let’s carve a new path. I have always said that I would rather everyone hate my art with a passion than be indifferent.

 I’d much rather be an anti-artist than not an artist.

Q: Because of this, a lot of controversy surrounds your work and whether it is or isn’t art, but how would you define art?

A: To me, art is about provoking emotion. Whether good or bad, beautiful or ugly. And without a doubt, my art does that. But this “controversy” regarding whether my art is or isn’t “art” is bullsh*t. Beautiful bullsh*t. Who gives a f*ck if it’s “art” or not in everyone’s eyes. To spark a conversation – a heated, rage-filled argument – about my art in the first place is something that as an artist, is extremely fulfilling. And was entirely intentional. “Anti-art” is a controversial term – utilized to spark controversy… and it worked. Of course, it worked. I had no doubt it would work… but when I started seeing hate videos with hundreds of thousands of views, I knew it really worked. To quote @jayclaytonwelch “this kid made something that will have a bigger emotional impact than most artists will achieve in their entire lives”. It worked. Whether “art” or not… it worked.

Q: Regardless of that, you have recently gained a big following on social media, why do you think your art resonates so deeply with some people?

A: I think my art resonates with people for a lot of reasons. But what I like about it is that it’s not like I’m this “art connoisseur” character. I title my TikToks very deliberately. “Boy draws picture”. Because realistically, that’s all I am. And despite what some people say, that’s all I’ve ever claimed to be – a boy that draws pictures. Which is believable. Relatable. Achievable for anyone. at the most basic level. Of course lots of people relate to it for personal reasons – e.g. the writing itself conveys stories that some people will relate with or simply people just really like gothic art etc…

Q: And finally, what future do you envision for you as an artist, and for your work?

A: In the near future I have a lot I want to achieve. I am working on clothing currently – as well as a run of limited prints. There are also a lot of other artists and tiktokers that I want to collaborate with. Once Covid-19 has fucked off, I want to do a gallery show internationally – ideally in New York. 

@pamiathat

just a chill afternoon project #art

♬ original sound – tobert

In the far future, I envision myself as still not quite being accepted by the “art world”. Hopefully.

Whether you like him or not, Jack Carden entered the art world with a bang and is planning to continue leaving his mark through his artwork, opinions, and future project.

You can find jack Carden here:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jackcardenart?lang=en

Instagram: https://www.tiktok.com/@pamiathat?lang=en

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pamiathat?lang=en

Site: https://www.jackcarden.art/

Categories
Art Movies Music

Elias Rahbani passes away at 83 after leaving his mark on the music industry.

Today, Elias Rahbani, the last of the living Rahbani brothers, lost his life, the 4th of January 2021 at the age of 83, the cause of death yet unknown. This is a sad day for the Lebanese music industry as he was one of the biggest composers, arrangers, lyric writers, conductor & producers, in the Lebanese/Arabic music scene.

He was the mind behind a multitude of famous songs written in both English, French, and Arabic which were sang by a multitude of notable Lebanese singers such as Fairuz, Sabah and Wadih El Safi . One of such songs is “Kan El Zaman” by Fairuz.

He is also the composer of important music pieces such as “moonlight melody” made for the tv Serie ” Azef al layl”.

He was also behind some popular nursery  rhymes that accompanied a lot of Lebanese people during their childhood such as  “Kellon Indoun Sayarat”, “Toll’ Eddaou al Wawi”, “Ammy Bou Massoud”.

The one to who the Elias Rahbani academy is dedicated, he forever left his mark in the hearts of Lebanese people as well as in the country’s folklore and culture.

Elias Rahbani and His Orchestra on Apple Music

Categories
Art Entertainment Literature Music

The French parts of “Achilles, come down”: Translations and literary analysis

Throughout the Greek mythology inspired song, “Achilles, come down”, can be heard a man saying some French phrases during the musical interludes that connects the multiple verses of the 7 minute song. Some people would attribute its presence solely for aesthetic purposes, some think there is more to it, but regardless, most fan are curious about the meanings of these words. Like many other songs such As Swan Upon Leda by Hozier, It uses many artistic and literary symbolism to get it message across and so, to find answers to our questions, some research into the world of French literature was necessary.

To start with, here is what the first series of French phrases means:

“Je vois que beaucoup de gens meurent parcequ’ils estiment que la vie ne vaut pas la peine d’être vécue et j’en vois d’autres qui se font paradoxalement tuer, pour les idées, les illusions qui leurs donnent une raison de vivre. Ce qui peut être une raison de vivre est en même temps une excellente raison de mourir. »

“I see that many people die because they deem that life is not worth living and I see others that, paradoxically, get themselves killed for the ideas, the illusions that gives them a reason to live. What can be a reason to live is at the same time an excellent reason to die.”

These words are a direct exert from the philosophical essay The myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus who was a French author and philosopher belonging to the movement of absurdism.

Photograph by Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum

The same can be said of the second paragraph present in the song:

“D’un gérant d’immeuble qui s’était tué on disait qu’il avait perdu sa fille depuis Cinq ans, qu’il avait beaucoup changé et que cette histoire l’avait « miné ».”

“About a building manager that killed himself, people said that he had lost his daughter five years ago, that he had changed a lot and that this event “undermined” him.”

By now, it is clear that this essay by Albert Camus tackles the topic of suicide and the meaning of life as is common in the philosophy of absurdism. In fact, the book starts with the author stating that the only philosophical problem is suicide. With that in mind, we can clearly see a link between the song and all these quotes taken from The myth of Sisyphus.

Book cover of the first edition

Another interesting thing to note, is that the further the song progress, the more the quotes rises in intensity , and the closer it gets to the heart of the problem as shown by the extract present right before the fifth verse that present the conflict between the singer and Achilles intrusive thoughts:

“Des souvenirs d’une patrie perdue, de l’espoir d’une terre promise, ce divorce entre l’homme de sa vie… ”

“Memories of a lost homeland, hope of a promised land, this divorce between a man and his life…”

Finally, what makes these extract so fitting for this specific song is the fact that the band , Gang of youth, like Camus, opted to use an episode of Greek mythology to exhibit their answer to the philosophical problem of whether life, is in fact worth living or not. In Albert campus’s case, it was the story of Sisyphus, stuck in an absurd existence where he is doomed to roll an immense boulder up a hill only for it to roll back. As for the gang of youth case, they opted to take an episode from the lliad after the death of Achilles lover Patroclus.

In conclusion, we can clearly see that the French extract present in the song “Achilles, come down”, were specifically thought out to fit the songs and possibly the authors’ philosophical and artistic agenda.

Categories
Art Entertainment Tourism

Iphigenia Papageorgiou: The creative mind behind the use of embroidery as a form of street art in Cyprus.

In the streets of downtown, Limassol can be found a multitude of varied forms of street arts, some are murals, some, are sculptures but between the restaurants and shops of Saripolou square, Limassol, can be found an unusual piece of work. In fact, on a wall hangs a metal grid in which is embroidered the picture of a woman holding a thread on a blue background by the artist Iphigenia Papageorgiou. A work to behold by tourists and locals alike, this artwork is marked by the unique craft through which it came to be, as most people don’t usually think of embroidery as a form of street art. The mystery behind this form of art and Its creator can be somehow dissipated by seeking out answers from the artist hidden behind the art pieces found all over Cyprus.

When asked about the reasons behind her choice to work with embroidery, the artist answered by stating the following: “I have been using threads since 2016 on tulle and other forms of installation doing a line drawing portraits.”

But this raises the question of how she decided to bring this form of art to the streets, despite how uncommon embroidery is in this specific field of the art world. According to the creator herself, here is how it started: “I was influenced by my city’s street art scene as I knew a few people involved.” she said. “They have given me the chance to participate at Street Life Festival and then I turned the thread into yarn and then onto metallic fences producing that result.”

Finally, a lot can be learned about the future Iphigenia Papageorgiou has planned for herself and her artworks through the following: “I aim to achieve a sequence of my own style that would be my final signature and be known worldwide as an Urban embroidery street artist.”

On that note, it is clear that this artist’s craft and works are an innovative way of transforming embroidery into accessible urban art with the potential to make her a worldwide known artist.

Important links:

https://www.iphigeniapapageorgiou.com/

https://instagram.com/iph.arts?igshid=s12btrsnca6c

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