Non-Mythological Creatures
Kristina Skantze is a Stockholm based artist. Through careful and persistent hand stitching she sculpts human-like fabric beings. The seams that shape the body parts are important and appear as lines, scars stretching the skin of cloth. Textile flesh shaped by millions of visible and invisible stitches, subdued pastel silk jersey and polyester padding. Experiences are sewn into the bodies, into the artist’s own bodily memory as well as into the limbs of the figures. Visible but secretive, shaping their individual personalities. Distorted bodies have always fascinated Kristina. In the project Non-Mythological Creatures she is searching for new shapes and expressions through mixing human and animal features. What kind of emotions can be recognised in these creatures? Are they part of our world or do they exist in their own time and space?

OCCUPATION?
Artist and puppet maker.
WHAT DOES FIBER MEAN TO YOU?
Materiality that talks to all your senses and awakes bodily memories.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE TECHNIQUE?
Hand-sewing and embroidery. Small stitches and repetitive hand movements creates for me a meditative state of mind where I feel like I am travelling. Thoughts and feelings come and go through my mind and body. It makes me feel safe and exited at the same time.
WHAT IS YOUR MOST VIVID TEXTILE MEMORY?
I think of a book that my mother read to me as a child. The framework was a patchwork quilt and in each chapter a story unfolded from one of the different patches. Textile as a carrier of memories and experiences of life still triggers me and patches within me continue to appear while I work. As soon as one is uncovered, countless new ones seem to emerge.

FIND OUT MORE
kristinaskantze.se