Natasha Fontenelle
CORNERS is a series of four large-scale fabric collage paintings created during a residency in Saint Lucia. Constructed from layered and stitched fabrics, the works combine painted, found and reclaimed textiles on discarded domestic curtains, developed through an intuitive process of building, cutting and reassembling.
Carrying traces of the environments they have belonged to, the fabrics enter a new context, bringing their histories with them while becoming part of something new. Through the act of making, materials created for one purpose are reimagined and given new presence. Fabric carries a quiet, unassuming power; it can fold into something small and compact, then unfold to occupy a much larger space. Curtains are often underestimated, existing in the background, yet they have the ability to transform the energy of a space. They can conceal and reveal, separate and connect.
The openness of the Caribbean environment affected both my body and the paintings; making us less covered and free. The paintings occupied the landscape as they were made, remaining outdoors day after day, basking in the sun, soaking up the rain, and being walked and crawled on, embracing the elements and allowing the environment to become an active collaborator in the work. The scale of the paintings created an immersive way of working. I moved around, over and within them, physically placing myself inside the picture as it developed.
CORNERS explores what it means to occupy and hold space. It considers how I hold my corner as a Black woman living and working between the Caribbean and the UK. A corner can be a place where someone is hidden, restricted or overlooked, but can equally become a position of observation, presence and power.
CORNERS explores the friction between being put in a corner and choosing to hold one.
