Astara Bastille

Italian Studies and Russian major

In my printmaking, I incorporate historical and archival research with my artistic process serving as a foil to my academic one. I have worked in the Book Arts Lab with Katherine Ruffin for three years, where I learned letterpress printing and bookbinding, in addition to studying printmaking with Phyllis McGibbon and Megan Cascella . I am interested in the relationship between text and image and how they influence the aesthetic value of each other. Using laborious and historic methods, such as letterpress and lithography, to create art brings scholarship to life and provides me a better understanding of the works which I study.  Printmaking is an effective medium for me to translate my research into a visual and tangible object.

Object in the Mirror is Closer than it Appears

lithography and trace monotype on paper

Jewett Hallway Galleries

My project, Object in the Mirror is Closer than it Appears, is a reflection on the female experience and the connection of women throughout history. My honors thesis focused on early modern female Italian authors and throughout my research I was struck by how works written centuries ago are still relevant to women today. Printmaking became a medium for me to express the emotion I felt while writing my thesis. This project centers on women from the thirteenth to nineteenth century, viewed through an antique mirror. These women lack faces and definition; they are distinguished only by their costumes. They are placed within a mirror, which is often a symbol of female vanity, yet they are being stylized for the viewing enjoyment of others, becoming objects. These prints are a reminder that we are not so far removed from our ancestors, that we must continue to be brave and fight for our rights. 

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