Culture and Identity by Elwy Schutten

Artist list

Elwy Schutten

Elwy Schutten graduated in 2016 at the Maastricht Academy of Fine Arts and Design with a powerful collection of jewellery pieces cut from soapstone and alabaster. The collection, which had personal identity as a main theme, was shown at Ra Gallery afterwards. In 2017, Elwy developed a new collection during a working stint in Pforzheim, Germany, where she was allowed to make free use of an old industrial machine, called drophammer, and old stamps with all kinds of designs that in former times were used to make jewellery. Using the drophammer and the stamps to print figures in different combinations in thin sheets of silver, Elwy created patterns that evoke stories, associations and atmospheres from different cultures. In several pendants, she gave this silver ‘cultural identity’ a ‘personal identity’ with a layer of soapstone, thus questioning the relation and interaction between both identities.