Sarah-Athina Nahas

The need for fluidity has been ever-present in my mind lately. We talk about fluid genders, fluid identities, fluid bodies… but also bodily fluids. I find these two interesting when juxtaposed. Fluidity as something to be celebrated, bodily fluids as something to be concealed. So it only felt natural that “fluidity", both in a metaphorical and literal way, has hugely informed my practice. I abandoned the fixed nature of the stretcher with its rigid structure and instead opted for supple fabrics that refuse to be stapled down. They embrace the folds and flaws and sway at every passing breeze. Like a breathing organism, it reacts to its environment.

Stretchers offer the comfort of something that has already been done, a stable ground, Lately, I enjoy not knowing. I embrace the unfamiliar. While in the studio one day a question popped into my mind: Do we ever plan our thoughts? Silly question first thought, but… taken in their rawest form, thoughts are like an unstoppable disordered flow. Often unexpected and surprising. It is an uninterrupted flow, like our blood from head to toe. 

The surfaces of my works, with their tiny little weaving holes, like tiny little pores, act like skins. Unprimed and porous, they absorb what I allow to escape. They absorb the literal fluids, but also the angst that comes with living. I see my fabrics as healing skins, on which I paint stories. 

I said one day, that the images I create are the scraps of my soul. What I meant to say was that they are the scrapings of my soul. For this reason, I let the dirty and painful gritty parts of me be absorbed by the surface and tell the story they have to tell.