🎵 IT062: This Unrest
✏️ Catriona Sheppard
🗓 08.05.20


Mixcloud / Spotify



Catriona is an illustrator and inclusive arts practitioner based in Brighton, UK.

Hey Catriona. Can you tell us a little bit about your tape and your song selections?

Hi Illustrated Tapes! For this playlist I wanted to capture the feelings of uneasiness in and about bodies. I tried to create a playlist that flowed through the ways unease and feeling trapped can manifest. The beginning is a creeping, methodical uneasiness and it slowly amps up, the middle being a loud rejection and frustration with it. The last few songs are a sort of embracement of that fear, more gentle and slightly haunting. I thought “Death is not the End” was a good song to end on, it’s ironic, dry, and unnervingly so upbeat.

I’ve been fascinated with this concept from a young age, it’s a feeling that I’ve inhabited since I was quite young due to my mental health conditions and chronic illnesses. As an illustrator I’ve always tried to communicate my experiences as a chronically ill person so to pair this musically seemed like such a natural theme to look at!

Even though I planned this playlist quite a while ago, considering recent global events releasing it now seems rather timely and relevant? I think a lot of people are feeling anxiety about their bodies and body spaces right now. It’s an odd feeling being someone who’s been worried about these things for a long time to now have the whole world feeling a similar way too.

What direction did you take with your cover art, and what was your process?

I started off sitting down, compiling and then listening to the playlist over and over. For me I draw very much based on feeling, so that was important. I started off with the idea of melting or dissolving from the inside and this evolved into the figure leaning over with sort of dissolving flames or smoke on their back. The bold colours were a bit different for me, but I think it suited the songs and theme well.

What are your fave album covers, records with a great music and artwork combo, or musical projects with a visual component?

Country Life – Roxy Music
1974, Island Records
Photography: Eric Boman



Dry – PJ Harvey
1992, Too Pure
Photography: Maria Mochnacz



Dog Man Star – Suede
1994, Nude Records
Photography: Joanne Leonard, “Sad Dreams on Cold Mornings”



Titanic Rising – Weyes Blood
2019, Sub Pop
Photography: Brett Stanley



Replicas – Gary Numan & Tubeway Army
1979, Beggars Banquet
Photography: Geoff Howes



Melt – Peter Gabriel
1980, Charisma
Artwork: Storm Thorgerson



Stay Sick! - The Cramps
1990, Enigma Records
Photography: Lux Interior


What did you listen to growing up?

Music was a huge thing growing up. It was, and still is, a huge way in which my family connects with each other. One of my earliest memories is listening to Garbage with my dad in the car when I was about four! I would spend hours sitting in front of his huge CD collections growing up, picking out CDs and being mesmerized by the covers.

I initially was very into classic and glam rock, the usual suspects like Bowie, Led Zep, T Rex, Roxy Music etc and then a lot of riot grrrl-esque, goth, early 2000s emo and punk music when I became a sulky teen. Specific albums which I think encapsulate growing up for me are Siamese Dream by The Smashing Pumpkins, The Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack, Live Through This by Hole, Souvlaki by Slowdive and The Devil and God Are Raging Inside of Me by Brand New.

And what’s on heavy rotation for you at the moment?

I’ve been listening to Pony by Orville Peck a lot since it came out. I’ve also recently discovered Ghost, I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to get round to listening to them but now I have I can’t stop. Also London band Sorry, I’m loving their new album 925, and Soccer Mommy’s new album Color Theory.

What’s happening in your creative world at the moment?

I was preparing to exhibit for my Inclusive Arts Practice MA in July! I’ll still be presenting my creative response to my research project, which looked at how illustrative practice can encourage collaboration with young adults who have chronic pain conditions, but just not at a physical exhibition space for now. I’m currently trying to work out how I can carry out my planned exhibit in my flat and online! My creative response will explore the interactions between chronically ill/disabled bodies with each other and their environments.

Where can we find you?

︎ shepp-art.com
︎ @shepp_art
︎ @shepp_art
︎ shepp-art.tumblr.com

Thanks, Catriona.

TRACKLIST
Mark Korven - Arrival / Nine Inch Nails - This Isn't the Place / Disasterpeace - Detritus / The Cure - A Strange Day / Throbbing Gristle - Beachy Head / Siouxsie and the Banshees - This Unrest / Miles Davis - Rated X / Depeche Mode - Jazz Thieves / Jenny Hval - In the Red / Fiona Apple - Regret / Merzbow - Why Is the Courtesy of the Prey Always Confused with the Courtesy of the Hunters... Pt. I / A Place To Bury Strangers - Everything Always Goes Wrong / Garbage - Silence Is Golden / Pink Floyd - Is There Anybody Out There? [2011 Remastered Version] / Elliott Smith - Roman Candle / PJ Harvey - Dear Darkness / Queens of the Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork / Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Death Is Not the End [2011 Remastered Version] ︎


Mark