Statement – Architectures of
Emotion.
My
practice stems from a love of buildings, both iconic and those of personal
significance. I am particularly interested in relationships between
architecture, colour and effect; considering the impact
colour can have on emotional states and wellbeing, and delving into how colours attached to
certain memories, emotions, or experiences can enhance the personal
significance of buildings. By exploring the emotional capacity of a building
through personal experience and colour psychology, I invite viewers to form
attachments and bring personal connections to life through the interplay of
architecture and colour.
Starting
with photographs of buildings I have encountered, often without seeking them, I
produce medium/large-scale drawings on fabric before applying paint and thread.
Rather than documenting existing visible colours, I choose colours that combine
the building’s purpose and my own intuitive relationship to the architecture,
using established colour symbolism (red as love/anger etc.) to reflect my
feelings after encountering, photographing, and materially engaging with each
building.
Fabric
is my main surface because its delicacy represents the fragility of emotions. Watercolour
is key as its
transparency links to the subtle transitions often present in psychological
states, which experimentation showed is harder to achieve with other paints. During
experimentation I explored screen-printing to achieve rich layers of colour
which complement the colour of the material. Thread is an important addition, representing links
between memories and emotions tied to architectural spaces, symbolising how
these spaces are woven into the fabric of life, and how colour and architecture
are interwoven in our perceptions. I also occasionally use pressed flowers, reflecting
the emotions tied to the colour. I
hope others experience the variety of emotions associated with different
colours.
Although
colour as emotional space is discussed at length in relation to both painting
and architecture, there is little relating how art might mobilise colour to
shift, enhance, or represent the built environment with specific focus on
psychological states and wellbeing in encounters with both art and everyday
architecture[i].
Artists
Julie Mehretu and Laura Oldfield-Ford influence my practice. Mehretu focuses on
painting abstract cities, and I am drawn to her interplay of colour, exploring
the relationship of architectural spaces and colour[ii]. She
also leaves some areas blank or with little detail, which I also explore to
allow viewers to experience emotions without me dictating colours. Oldfield-Ford
is a multimedia artist and like me looks at colour and is inspired by buildings
she has visited[iii]. Oldfield-Ford’s colours
could also relate to the emotions she felt at the place. Moreover, her
overlapping of colour around the outline reminds me of how I sometimes stitch
the outline of the architecture.
The
‘KAOS’ 2024 exhibition focused on thread and pressed flowers, presenting ‘Love
in Paris’ 2024 and ‘Full of Hope’ 2024, with colours and flowers linking to
emotions associated with the buildings (red/pink/roses for love, green/blossom
for hope). Whilst both connect through thread and flowers, curating either side
of a corner allowed them to also be viewed separately as they represent
different emotions. Furthermore, incorporating an iconic building (Eiffel
Tower) and a personal one (Reading University) allowed people to easily connect
with one but give more consideration to the emotions of the other.
Incorporating pressed flowers, and therefore preserving them, has connotations
of preserving the significance of buildings and my associated memories. For some
people adding frames captures their memories and emotions.
Having
received mixed feedback on the frames in the ‘KAOS’ exhibition, the ‘Winter
Cabaret’ 2024 exhibition displayed five recent works with a quick experimental
piece each linking to different emotions, while exploring compositional layouts
without frames to see how this changed the context of my work and how best my
ideas and intentions can be presented to benefit the viewer. Showing the raw
edges of the fabric also links to the fact that emotions can be rather raw.
For
the interim show I explored scale and developed my series of smaller pieces.
‘Springtime Love in Paris’ 2025 incorporates mixed media on pink fabric. The
Eiffel Tower has connotations of love and romance; therefore, I drew it in red.
I also painted some areas in natural colours and left some completely blank. The
four smaller pieces explored different emotions: royalty (purple), religion
(purple), peacefulness (blue), and reliability (brown).
The
degree show further explored scale, while also exploring different materials
and layers. My handmade canvas combining layers of coloured architectural
structures was surrounded by ten smaller fabric pieces, each depicting a
building linking to the emotions and colour of the material. These pieces
allowed me to explore different emotional responses to colours, and how placing
different colours adjacently changes the emotional responses experienced.
[i]Dias, S. F, and M. J Durao. “Significance and Creation: Emotion and the Primacy
of Colour in Art (Architecture and Painting).” Academia.Edu, n.d.
[ii]White Cube. “Julie Mehretu | White Cube,” May 1, 2025.
https://www.whitecube.com/artists/julie-mehretu.
[iii]Hales Gallery. “Laura Oldfield Ford | 30 January - 14 March 2009,” n.d.
https://halesgallery.com/exhibitions/20-laura-oldfield-ford-london-2013-drifting-through-the-ruins/.