Patrícia Guarda

Mixed media/ Textile Artist

I grew up in Portugal surrounded by fabrics and yarns. Textiles establish an instant link with my own memories, culture and traditions.

Combining the oldest techniques of ‘feminine crafts’ with more contemporaneous ones is at the core of my work. Hand embroidery, natural dye, quilt and patchwork are mixed with paint, screen-print, photography and more. Their overlap achieves more complex textures and visual dimensions.

The process is as important as the finished work itself.

The patchworks are constructions of colours and shapes, where I normally add fabric pieces that belong to my childhood, almost as a respect to the quilt tradition. I embroider them and I intentionally revel the back of the works to show the manual process and its inherent imperfections; contrasting with the precision of the digital era we live in.

I celebrate the craft heritage. And I pass it on to the younger generations by teaching it in schools.

B.A. in Arts by the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, NL

B.A. in Arts by the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, NL