In the latest instalment of our Art of Craft series, we step inside the Byron Bay studio of Swedish-Barbadian artist Filippa Edghill.
Known for her ethereal drawings and paintings centred on the feminine, Filippa’s work explores the intrinsic connection between humans and the earth. Her portraiture—soft-edged and dreamlike—honours the shared beauty of women and the natural world.
Here, she shares the inspirations behind her creative practice.
I have so many memories from painting very young with my dad who taught me the basics of painting as he's a great water-colourist. I've watched back many times an old home video of myself around age 5 trying to draw a Christmas tree and the two jagged sides were simply not lining up. You can see the frustration and determination in my face to get it right, and the giant pile of discarded drawings beside me. Artistic anxiety came early I guess, but in that is the drive, the longing and the purpose.
I love to bring in inspiration from the natural world around me. What is made in nature is just so inherently beautiful sometimes it is even daunting to try to do it justice but perhaps I hope it will rub off in my work. Or serve as some sort of standard. She sets a high bar Mother Nature.
'...There is a poetry to natural materials that synthetic materials lack.'
In more ways I can count but mainly it has given me a new perspective to the woman who is my endless subject matter. It's not that motherhood is the end goal or the highest purpose for a woman but it's a layer we all carry in us. It has enriched my art and potentially made it speak to a wider range of women. Everyone has a relationship to a mother. Whether it is to one's own motherhood or to our own mother.
I think the greatest issue we face at the moment is the issue of how humans treat our climate. Be it mass consumerism, pollution, food access, water health etc. I just want to gently remind that we are part of nature and nature is part of us. It seems like a soft message but it holds a powerful truth that is not a meditation mantra but a political statement. If you look at the demographics in the rooms that guide our society in these sad directions, it's almost exclusively men. The antidote to this evolution; the female archetype. And therein lies my inspiration.
I am in constant exploration of different crafts and have been so lucky to learn from really great makers around me in so many different crafts. Pottery, filmmaking, jewellery, painting, photography, sewing.. Most of the makers that inspire me are friends and I adore growing in proximity to people who take a craft seriously. Learning work ethic, material sourcing and techniques. I can't even begin because so many inspiring friends come to mind. I'll end up writing a book.
I like to try and use materials that are natural as much as possible. Mainly because there is a poetry to natural materials that synthetic materials lack. You just have to work so much harder to make the artwork sing if you work with the wrong materials. Thinking of a drawing with a ballpoint pen on printer paper makes my soul sad. But the same drawing on some nice paper with charcoal makes me think of the fire that made that perfect black dust and suddenly the movements of my hand are much better. Material informs magic.
It's a mix of polar opposites. One side a soft mossy forest dweller from very cold and dark lands. The other side is a beach rat from blue Caribbean waters. I think living here reminds me a lot of Barbados. The climate is the same but the culture is very different. Experiencing the mix of different cultures may very well have a strong influence on my creative voice. Mainly I think I've seen first hand how people from different places might relate or react differently to the same artwork. For this reason I try to keep the women who figurate in my works strangely unspecified. It is challenging but I try to not paint details that might give them away as a certain skin color, a certain age, a certain origin. The themes I like to explore are the ones that are timeless and span across any culture. Themes that are deeply human and connect beyond cultural belonging.
I wish I could say that it was some smooth jazz, it was for the greater part of my twenties. Now it's this; Mum, Mum! Muuumi! mum? Mum! I am mostly working with the beautiful but brain rattling noise of home life with a toddler and a baby in the background. That's my soundtrack right now, chaos. A beautiful mess. We have parrots in the garden that mimic human words and I kid you not the freakin parrots are calling out Muuuuum! in the same high pitched shriek of a 3 year old. Somehow though this is the most beautiful working environment I could possibly imagine. Am I overstimulated though? Yes, yes I am. So when I can, the chosen soundtrack is sweet sweet silence.
