Nature, Death, Art, Fashion
Nathalia Edenmont - Nobel
Duration (1:29 Minutes)
Nathalia Edenmont was born in 1970, Yalta, former USSR, now she lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden. Nathalia mostly photographs women and butterflies but in the images she has made a dress consisting of thousands of beetles and grasshoppers accessorized with a necklace of butterflies. The woman subject is a "Queen with no King". Edenmont discusses the passing of her mother at the age of 14 leaving her with vivid images of "nature possessing her body", through this experience the viewer is able to see a connection between the proud strong woman accepting the courses of nature.
A powerful artwork. The beetles in the dress and the winged insects in the collar (in the video) are gorgeous and off-putting at once. Would you say that the medium carries the message?
ReplyDeleteNathalia's use of the macabre in art is relatable to my choices at times making her an intriguing artist to know about. When you have spoken about movements in art you refer to the material being just as significant as artist. In Nathalia's world, insects are representative of our mortality, one day we will die and most of us will be restored back to nature through decomposition.
DeleteThis is a fascinating art piece, Destini! It reminds me of the fashion trend from the early 20th century, I believe, in which women wore dresses with beetles actually stitched on. Perhaps Edenmont found this metaphorical of her mother's situation: the beetles reflect resilient strength and outer beauty, and their connection to societal status resonates with how her mother had to keep up appearances, so to speak.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your feedback! Building off your symbolism of the beetle, there is significance of the dung beetle. In Egyptian culture the dung beetle's movement represents the sun going across the sky to death or night.
DeleteThis artist is very interesting! Is Edenmont a performance artist too? Were there any other subjects she used for her art besides beetles, grasshoppers and butterflies? I am very curious to find out!
ReplyDeleteIsn't she??! When researching her works further it seems that photography is her only medium. She also has a lot of works with flora. Her materials are consistent in representing aspects of nature that no longer have a life force other than the human subject.
DeleteHere is another piece of work that features a female girl with a dress made of blueish/purple flowers and some dead parakeets.
https://www.artsy.net/artwork/nathalia-edenmont-consciousness