Charlotte Edey
@edey_
Her work blows my mind every time I see it, since her first exhibition at Public Gallery . She is an artist and illustrator working across many mediums.
Charlotte’s work transports the viewer to another world, another dimension! Her multidisciplinary work is surrealist and explores these fantastic celestial other worldly realms bursting with balance and harmony, punctured with symbolism. Her portfolio includes intensive HAND SEWN TAPESTRIES, drawings among others.
Clear influences from femininity, myths and legends as well as the mystic are evident in each piece, as well as identity and the spiritual world intersecting her work.
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CHARLOTTE, MY FIRST QUESTION TO YOU - WHAT DO YOU WANT YOUR WORK TO SAY?
A lot of my work is concerned with the politics of space, centred on the experience of women of colour: who can occupy it, and the spatial structuring we navigate. The limitations of this lend themselves to seeking the sublime. It offers the opportunity to transcend our reality while creating a space to investigate who and where we are. It is optimistic and proactive in the pursuit of progress. I think often about the Octavia Butler quote 'There's nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns'.
A BEAUTIFUL QUOTE, AND THAT OTHERWORLDLINESS COMES ACROSS SO CLEARLY. I AM A HUGE FAN OF YOUR COLOUR PALETTE AS YOU KNOW. SO SOFT, SO DELICIOUS AND PASTEL TONED. PLEASE TELL US ABOUT THE COLOURS YOU USE?
I find that I work best with a ground colour of blue or pink and go from there. I tend to work either in monochrome or a loose sunset palette punctuated by skin-tones. It's the visual language I feel most confident in. -
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"It's the visual language I feel most confident in. "
that's beautiful. as well as that variation, You use so many incredible mediums, so incredibly well! What did you study?
I did a Foundation year in Visual Communication at Chelsea and following that I'm self-taught. Drawing has always been the base of my practice and is the most immediate way I communicate. I see most of my material exploration as an extension of drawing; the tapestries are pencil drawings translated via digital jacquard loom and the satin-stitch embroidery follows a similar pattern to line drawing. The digital element of this correlates with some of my prints, working with digital collages of analogue drawings and editing.
and, Where do you find your inspiration?
Landscapes and symmetry. I work often from organic still life or altar arrangements and a lot of my shapes are anthropomorphic, drawing from figures and shells. I keep an interchangeable selection of books at my desk too to reference certain passages
charlotte - You have such an incredible following and produce so many exciting projects. Tell us, what advice would you give to an aspiring artist?
Go into yourself and allow yourself to make in whatever capacity you are capable of. Look after yourself; now more than ever the living situations, spatial limitations and financial support for artists are incredibly challenging. Be kind to yourself and forgiving too if you aren't able to create immediately or constantly in this moment. This is a universal period of reset. You have time and take it. Understand that your perspective is valid. Above all else, just keep going.
