Marilou Chagnaud

Mapping Air

Preview: Friday, 12 January, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Exhibition: 13 January - 9 February 2024
Opening Times: Thu - Sat, 12:00pm - 5:00pm

Location: Abject Gallery, 27 Fawcett Street, Sunderland, SR1 1RE  

‘Mapping Air’ is a project developed during a 10-months residency at VARC in rural Northumberland. A series of textile sculptures was created in relation to the surrounding landscape to explore the movement of air. Drawing inspiration from flag signalling systems, stripes and chequered patterns were stitched using bright orange and white ripstop - also known as parachute fabric - to create three large-scale works, each measuring between 10 to 20 meters.

The artist and invited participants, including Newcastle University Fine Art students, interacted with these malleable sculptures during a set of performances held in various locations across the Moorlands. These poetic interventions, exploring concepts of transience and interconnectedness, invited the performers to experience the dynamic movement of air and reflect on our interaction with the environment.

‘Temporariness and lightness of touch on the environment is of importance in reading Marilou’s works at Highgreen. Despite their large-scale and bold arresting physicality, her works are not territorial or attempting to harness nature. Instead I think they attempt to understand points of intersection, where we feel at one with or other to nature, place and community. The nature of belonging is so complex, individual and fraught with inherited issues, so to be encouraged to think of belonging as a gathering of experiences that imbue our lives with layers of meaning, is perhaps a positive approach to feeling grounded and connected. Marilou’s works explore this in refreshingly open and inquisitive ways.’ Claire Barclay, 2023.

Marilou Chagnaud (b. 1983, Montreal) is an artist whose practice combines printmaking, sculpture, and sitespecific installations. Her work revolves around the use of lines, colours and geometrical patterns to investigate spatial perception and movement. Through repetition, grid systems and symmetry, she develops a visual language that incorporates both two and three-dimensional forms. She is interested in the potential of folds and pliable materials to create dynamic compositions that play with the viewer’s perception and generate sensory experiences. Chagnaud lives and works in York, UK. She graduated with a Master of Fine Arts from the Ecole Supérieure d’Art d’Aix-en-Provence (2003-2008), followed by a Diploma in Textile Design from Centre Design et Impression Textile de Montréal (2012-2015).

Her recent projects include: Mapping Air, Visual Arts in Rural Communities (VARC), UK (2023); Contour 556, Canberra Art Biennale, AU (2022); Double movement, National Gallery of Australia, AU (2022); Waveforms, Goulburn Regional Art Gallery, AU (2021); Shifting Spaces, Megalo Print+Studio Gallery, AU, (2021); Common Threads, ANCA, AU (2020); The Wave Machine, Canberra Museum and Gallery, AU
(2018).

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image credit: Louise Hepworth