ARTISTS STATEMENT (683 w)
When I contemplate my work around nests, I reflect on the deep story behind their creation. The concept of care permeates my work, representing nurturing, protection, concern, and loss. Inspired by a video conversation between Joan Tronto and Todd May on the Philosophy of Care, I considered how, in making nests, I might receive care rather than just giving it—could the nest itself be the carer? Through my wire sculptures and collaborative projects, I strive to create ‘other spaces’—heterotopias—that invite reflection on the concepts of home, community, and safety. By engaging with the natural world and fostering community participation, my work seeks to bridge the gap between intention and perception, encouraging a dynamic and reciprocal relationship between artist and audience. In an increasingly fragmented world, my art aspires to highlight the beauty and necessity of interconnectedness and collective effort.
My artistic journey centres around exploring heterotopias, a concept introduced by Michel Foucault to describe spaces of otherness that are neither here nor there, simultaneously physical and mental. This theoretical framework is crucial to understanding my wire sculptures, mainly the intricate nests I create. Inspired by the communal structures of sociable weaver birds in the Kalahari Desert, these nests embody home, safety, and confinement themes. They are a physical manifestation of spaces that foster reflection, reconsideration, and reconstruction of these ideas.
Inspired by the nests of Sociable Weavers, Kalahari Hotel 2024 reimagines these intricate structures using wire, creating a unique ‘Other Space.’ Drawing on Foucault’s concept of heterotopias, these wire nests invite you to reflect on the ideas of home, safety, and confinement. Just as Foucault described heterotopias as spaces that juxtapose different meanings, these nests juxtapose natural forms with human-made materials, challenging traditional notions and encouraging new interpretations.
The nests of sociable weaver birds are a poignant metaphor in my work. These birds construct massive communal nests that provide thermal buffering, creating a hospitable environment in the harsh conditions of the Kalahari. Their nests are not just shelters but dynamic systems of collaboration and community. Similarly, my wire nests aim to evoke the intricate balance between individual and collective efforts, mirroring the interconnectedness and interdependence seen in both human and animal societies.
My choice of material—wire—plays a crucial role in conveying the dualities present in my work. The wire is simultaneously solid and pliable, capable of being shaped into complex, organic forms while maintaining its structural integrity. This mirrors the delicate balance between rigidity and flexibility essential to natural and human-made systems. The process of manipulating wire into nest-like structures requires patience and precision, reflecting the labour-intensive efforts of the sociable weavers. By allowing the wire to fold and flop naturally, I emphasize these forms’ fluidity and organic nature, much like the weaver birds’ nests that evolve and adapt over time. By rethinking the use of wire in my work, I hope to create a rich, multifaceted narrative that resonates with viewers on both an intellectual and emotional level, fostering a deeper appreciation of the delicate balance between protection and freedom in our relationship with nature. As I developed the work, I realised an extra layer, namely that of disconnection and how those barriers separate us from the natural world when we create barriers or impose security or protection. I like to reflect on this paradox, our desire to protect, which can also isolate and constrain.
By infusing my work with personal narratives and philosophical insights, I invite viewers to embark on a journey of introspection and empathy. I am open to sharing that the loss of my youngest son shapes my personal story. His death has left an indelible mark on my life. My work is a reflection of the emotional landscape of dealing with this loss, contemplating the moment when a child leaves home (nest) and the parent’s poignant struggle of letting go and the now emptiness of his death. Creating nests becomes a way to process and express this experience’s complex emotions. Each nest embodies the care, nurturing, and protection that defines parenthood, as well as the profound sense of loss and letting go, and the almost overwhelming sense of impermanence of life that comes with the death of a child. Through my art, I explore my dual roles of caregiver and care receiver, finding solace in the meditative act of making. The nests represent a space for new beginnings and a sanctuary for grief, offering a place to breathe and reflect.
By sharing my story and inviting others to connect with these themes, I hope to create a space where viewers can find their paths to understanding and healing, recognizing the universal need for care and connection amidst the fragility of life.
Note on Assignment Three and Four tutorial timings and focus:
Can we discuss dates for the following Assignment tutorial – I prefer late November 2024.
To develop my body of work, I plan to make a nest with corrugated cardboard and collaborate on the steel wing with my EU student group. We will use electronic QR codes to view their work. I still have to negotiate this with them and do more research in the following days.
Body of Work (Learning Log and Selection)
Use your learning log to share both your overall body of work developed in part three, plus selected aspects to indicate how you have tested or mocked-up for exhibition, curation and encounters for your work.
Include records and documentation of new works, documentation of where and how the work engages (or might engage) with the audience, research into curation, intervention and exhibition strategies and use of writing within practice, interpretation and promotion.
Other thoughts I want to use with regards to use of wire and extra layers I think the work contains
Ideas around kinship: In a research document published on the Academia.com site I read how kin-directed relationships play a role in how birds cooperate within the social weaver colonial nests. ” In conclusion, our results are consistent with the idea that population viscosity promotes the expression of kin-directed cooperation (Lion & van Baalen 2008; Hatchwell 2010). The researchers conclude that kin-directed cooperative behaviour has usually evolved among relatives living in discrete family groups. They also state that in their research, they have shown that “despite low colony-level relatedness, fine-scale kin neighbourhoods exist among the communal nests of sociable weavers, a pattern that is reflected in their social interactions. Most importantly, we have shown for the first time that investment in a communal structure that provides shared benefits to colony members and can hence be regarded as a public good is kin-directed and thus potentially a product of kin selection despite the large size and low average relatedness of colonies.” (Ecology Letters 2014. https://www.academia.edu/18439197/Cooperative_investment_in_public_goods_is_kin_directed_in_communal_nests_of_social_birds?sm=b)
In the natural world, sociable weavers build intricate nests that serve as homes, protect against harsh climates, and foster community. Prof Thomson’s research provided more insight into the idea that nests are multifunctional structures and far more sophisticated than initially thought. It is considered that domed nests were constructed by the common ancestor of all modern passerines, of whom the sociable weavers are related to. Sociable weavers, with their communal, haystack-like nests, exhibit a more advanced form of domed nesting behaviour. While their nests are communal and large-scale, the basic domed structure can still be seen in the individual chambers where birds nest and roost. This communal nesting behavior is an extension of the evolutionary advantage of domed nests, combining the benefits of protection with social cooperation.
Reimagining these nests with wire allows one to explore how human characteristics can be projected onto natural structures. The wire, a material often associated with containment, reflects our human desires for protection and order. These nests become symbols of our emotions, societal values, and the complex relationship between humans and nature.
Visitors are invited to interact with the nests and consider what human traits they see in them. This will help foster a deeper understanding of how anthropomorphism shapes our interpretation of the world around us.
Tswalu program to consider: The Artists in Residence Program (AiR) in an innovative programme, managed through the Tswalu Foundation, initiated to further support research on Tswalu through the generation of income for research as well as provide artists with a platform to be inspired and showcase their work. The AiR program is guided by Mark Read and his team at the Everard Read Gallery in Johannesburg, which have created a recognised arts and culture brand. This year’s exhibition was adapted to a virtual experience with an electronic gallery to ensure that the talent of South African artists, as well as the uncovering of new artistic talent, continued.
The KEEP (Kalahari Endangered Ecosystem Project) project has forged ahead, amidst the pandemic. It was formed to try to answer some of the pressing issues related specifically to climate change effects in the Southern Kalahari region. A key feature of KEEP is that it links several historical projects, as well as, new research projects under one banner to collect and collate data more efficiently and effectively, particularly with regards to key species occurring on Tswalu. This data enables the conservation team to be at the cutting edge of the ecological management of Tswalu. The KEEP project is the first of its kind, focusing on the “food web” and how the cascading effects of climate change impact a myriad of species which in turn affect others. It also involves top scientists from various universities working together for a common purpose.
The nest of the sociable weaver is a large, communally built structure, up to 7.5 m long and 3.6 m deep, which is divided into a base made of dry grass blades and a superstructure constructed of coarser sticks. The whole is built on a thick horizontal tree branch or telegraph pole. The underside is almost flat and contains the nest chambers, which open onto the lower surface through entrance tubes about 20 cm long. Each chamber is padded with soft, dry plant material. Only dry material is used except for the threshold of the chamber entrance; the threshold consists of green grass blades or herbs that dry slowly and form a strong step.
However, closer inspection reveals that Asawa made each sculpture with thousands of small copper, brass or steel wire loops. She creates a series of forms within forms that simultaneously conjoin and dissolve into one another. The enclosed loops of wire nonetheless form tangible layers that disrupt their total transparency. Asawa’s sculptures embody tactile form while at the same time transcending it. I argue that central to Asawa’s looped wire sculptures is a conceptual and physical dialectic between their material presence and perceived immateriality.