Throughout my academic life, hand embroidery offered me a quiet, personal space. What began as a hobby gradually evolved into a powerful form of expression. While researching the symbolic roles of music, mythology, and instruments, I felt a growing desire to stitch these themes into fabric. With the help of embroidery training and certifications, I began to translate the images in my mind more freely into hoop work.
In my exhibitions, I display the instruments featured in these embroideries alongside informative panels. By blending traditional and experimental techniques, I aim to give ancient narratives a new voice through thread and texture. My work seeks to evoke the resonant ties between sound, memory, and ritual.
A Journey of Music, History, and Culture
As an academic trained in both Musicology and History, I have spent many years studying the history of music and the evolution of musical instruments. Through disciplines such as ethnomusicology, myth-musicology, semiotics, cosmology, and ethnoepistemology, I have explored the cultural signs embodied in instruments. As a professor holding dual master's degrees and dual PhDs in music and history, I have published various articles and books. Over the years, I also built a collection of nearly 200 instruments—acquired from local luthiers around the world or commissioned as custom pieces.
This process gave rise to a series of embroideries portraying fourteen musician goddesses from various mythologies. I later developed a second series focused on the creation myths of musical instruments—exploring how sound has been seen as a medium connecting nature, spirit, or the divine across different cultures.
Contact
Planning an exhibition, lecture, or research partnership?
Prof. Feyzan Goher is open to proposals from galleries, museums, festivals, and universities.
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