‘I Miss you Stephen, I Keep Watching Barbarella’ started as a series of beaded embroideries, exploring a friendship initially formed from a shared interest in costuming, as well as camp cinema. The embroideries have slowly evolved into a quilt.

Quilting which traditionally recycles scrap fabrics was revived in the 1960s prompted by an anti-materialist movement, contrastingly, in the same decade the decadent and very materialistic cult film Barbarella was released. Based on a French comic series of the same name, director Roger Vadim presented his then-wife Jane Fonda as a highly sexualised Sci-Fi superhero in an incredibly camp universe.

The imagery of the embroideries are derived from Barbarella, and have been assembled into a friendship quilt. Friendship quilts traditionally bring to mind dear friends and beloved relatives showing their care through a quilt. They were often made for loved ones who were moving to a distance place. This friendship quilt was made as an ode to Mariaan’s dear friend Stephen who moved to New York to follow his fashion dreams.

Mariaan is an emerging textile artist and fashion designer based in Perth. Her practice is currently exploring heightened fondness for loved ones during long-distance relationships through traditional textile techniques.

Mariaan has exhibited locally and in Iceland after completing a textile residency in Blönduós, Iceland.

Mariaan holds a Bachelor in Textiles from Curtin University (2013) and a Advanced Diploma in Fashion and Textiles from North Metropolitan Tafe (2016). She now teaches at The Children’s School of Contemporary Art.