In "Spin Club Stories" I explore personal and cultural memory influenced by my upbringing in a small farming village in Northern Germany. I use keepsakes from family life, old photographs and embroidered fabric from the village to build a world of memory, identity, and home. I take cues from the old tradition of spin clubs in my village, where village women met to spin well and create needlework - and share stories while they worked. My own embroidered designs are partial representations of my ancestral linens, emphasizing the fragmentary nature of recollection.
Astrid Reischwitz is a lens-based artist whose work explores storytelling from a personal perspective. Using keepsakes from family life, old photographs, and storytelling strategies, she builds a visual world of memory, identity, place, and home. Her current focus is the exploration of personal and collective memory influenced by her upbringing in Germany.
Reischwitz has exhibited at national and international museums and galleries including the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Newport Art Museum, Griffin Museum of Photography, and Danforth Art Museum.
Awards
Winner “Series” Category, Siena Creative Photo Awards 2021
Best in Manipulation Category, The 2021 Photo Competition, Society of Arts and Crafts & Stonehenge Gallery, Montgomery AL
Mass Cultural Council 2021 Fellowship Finalist in Photography
2nd Place, Open Theme Series (Non-Pro), 16th Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Women Photographers, 2021
Honorable Mention, Open Theme Series (Non-Pro), 16th Pollux Awards, 2021
Juror's Pick, LensCulture Art Photography Awards 2021
Artist of the Year Award, 2021 Members Prize Show* Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge MA
Top 50 Critical Mass Photographer, Photolucida, 2020
Griffin Award, 26th Annual Juried Members' Exhibition, 2020
Category Winner, Digital Collage Series (Non-Pro), 15th Pollux Awards
Daylight Multimedia Award, 2020 San Francisco Bay International Photo Awards, 2020
Gold Award, 2020 San Francisco Bay International Photo Awards, 2020
Category Winner, Open Theme Series (Non-Pro), 15th Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Women Photographers, 2020
Category Winner, Open Theme Series (Non-Pro), 14th Pollux Awards, 2019
Honorable Mention, Fine Art Series (Non-Pro), 14th Pollux Awards, 2019
Juror's Choice Award, BLUE, Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge MA, 2019
Top 50 Critical Mass Photographer, Photolucida, 2019
Category Winner, Culture and Daily Life Series (Non-Pro), 14th Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Women Photographers, 2019
Category Winner, Digital Composition Series (Non-Pro), 14th Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Women Photographers, 2019
