09 / Magdalena Abakanowicz & Cecilia Vicuña

24/11/22

Lately I’ve been inspired by the work of Magdalena Abakanowicz and Cecilia Vicuña.

Tate Modern is currently showcasing both artists, who intriguingly both work with natural fabrics to create large-scale sculptures.

Cecilia Vicuña’s ‘Brain Forest’ invites viewers to contemplate ghost forests and the destruction of biodiversity. Death in nature,  Vicuña states, when she was younger meant nothing other than “regenerating life” – however nowadays, we have created “the terminal death” a kind of death not created by a biological process. The installation, with the accompanying sound piece that echos around the turbine hall, does evoke a haunting atmosphere of otherness.

It made me think about how I could use fabric sculptures to express a similar atmosphere of otherness however not to signify the destruction of nature – but to emphasise its patient, silent, subtle resilience.

Interestingly, I think ‘The Abakans’ (a term coined for the fabric sculptures made by Magdalena Abakanowicz) convey this  silent liveness of nature I’m focusing on.

The colours are immediately contrasting: earthy, rich, oftentimes requiring a closer look to determine an array of tones that at first glance just look ‘brown’ or ‘black.’ Their structure has a density, holds form and establishes a presence, rather than the torn, slithers of pale materials that Vicuña uses to create the opposite effect – an almost… presence of un-presense? (Essentially something ghost-like.)

Back at the studio I played with different ways I could drape cotton scrim with rope and some irredecent fabric.

The outcome was definitely more reminiscent of Vicuña’s ‘Brain Forest’ but this is because I need more substance/layered materials. Once I get some more hessian, I’ll try weaving it with found materials and establish more of a body.