The sculptures are there to spark conservations
A ten-foot square gallery nestled in the entrance of a laundrette and next to a mobile phone repair shop is proving that no place is too small for art, writes Barbara Buchanan.
Fabriq Gallery is home to 20 androgynous somnolent ceramic humans inhabiting a world between sleep and consciousness. Laundrette users, shoppers and dedicated art followers are among those who have dropped by.
Visitors to the Quiescence exhibition can embrace the statues connecting with them in a tangible way.
Sculptor Karta Kaur says: “I’ve had conversations with them about how they feel when they hold the objects. Once they start engaging with the sculptures tactilely, it causes smiles and surprises.”
She is relaxed about the possibility that one of her sculptures might get dropped.
“It’s part of the journey of my objects that they are lifted and if something happens to them then it’s part of their evolution.
“They are not decorative objects. They are there to spark conservations in the community and build connections.”
Her sculptures are metaphors for different human states of presence or oblivion, health or sickness and the in-between state of not being fully alive nor dead.
Karta, describes herself as a socially engaged artist committed to mental health wellbeing and sharing her clay making skills: “I work in the community to encourage art in places where normally it can’t be reached, which has included working in secure wards.”
She turned to working with clay as a young mother living in Brockley and battling with post-natal depression, and found it “intrinsically therapeutic”.
After years of making pots day in and day out she ditched paid work in 2019 and embarked on a ceramic’s degree at Central St Martin’s College graduating with a first-class honours in 2023.
“Clay is a metaphor about human life. You have to handle it differently depending on whether the atmosphere is dry and wet. One piece of clay is not equal to another.”
Fabriq is run by Brockley local and LEGO researcher Maya Foley who believes everyone deserves the opportunity to be creative.
“Constraint of space means only the essential is included; only what is required to fulfil its purpose. This simplicity often translates into a strong essence and clear identity,” says Maya.
Quiescence is on until Sunday, 28th September at Fabriq Gallery, 197 Brockley Road, London, SE4 2RS.
