Artist of the Month: Dawn Kalu
Our artist of the month for April is Dawn Kalu! Working at her kitchen table, Kalu creates drawings, collages and paper sculptures that intimately reflect shared sadness and joy.
“I don’t want just to produce shock but neither do I want to censor myself” Kalu states. This alone is testimony to her sensitivity in portraying difficult subjects or events. The Brixton riots, which happened close to home for Kalu, as well as international injustices such as the refugee crisis and the death of George Floyd are explored through line, shape and colour and with a natural sense of composition.
Kalu speaks of “…the need to bear witness, to acknowledge”, whilst “endlessly searching for anything that catches [her] eye and keep it all bursting out of folders in drawers that are too full.”
Kalu uses “photos of lines or groups of people queuing, dancing, waiting” as source material as well as imagery culled from National Geographic magazines. “I like ink a lot to draw with” she explains. “It flows more easily than paint and dries quicker. I sometimes draw using a pipette or I use my left hand because the line is freer, less rigid, leaves room for accidents. I also like wrapping and putting together the figures I make. It is a form of comfort.”
This idea of “wrapping and putting together the figures” highlights the importance of tactility and the human hand. Indeed, the image of hands can be seen throughout Kalu’s work. Her figures reach out, touch and hold one another. There is a sense of nurturing and connecting with each other in a time when physical human contact has been so restricted.
Join Dawn for a mixed media paper sculpture workshop this month with artist Beth Hopkins and see more of her work on her Instagram here: instagram.com/dawn.kalu/