urban made domesticity
In her arts practice, Natasha Lewis Honeyman uses different materials and techniques, such as painting, textiles and vinyl, to explore objects in or associated with the domestic domain.
The works in Urban Made Domesticity are inspired by the immediacy and disposability of much of contemporary pop culture and fashion. But against this backdrop of the ever-changing, several of its recurring motifs are ancient symbols — skulls, lightning bolts and unicorns — whose meanings have evolved through the centuries, and even millennia, for which humans have been reproducing them.
Natasha has explored in a truly original way the resonance that these perennial images continue to have with modern audiences, overlaying symbols of primal and often frightening phenomena like death and lightning, with homey, traditional prints and patterns.
The series also comments on the tension between the public and private aspects of one's life. While the domestic may be a largely private sphere, it is also where we are able to showcase select aspects of our identity to others.
Natasha has always been interested in the subject of domesticity and has approached it from different angles over the years. Her early work in painting was inspired by floral motifs in the design of domestic objects and fabrics, and then by domestic ceramics and objects.
Now with Urban Made Domesticity, she has incorporated these materials and objects more literally, using textiles and sewn pieces as works in their own right.
WORDS BY SARAH JANSEN
