Why did I fly out to Amsterdam to collaborate with a clothing brand (NALU) & decide for the first time in my career to create artwork in a live setting?
I think it's important to acknowledge my first introduction to the NALU team, this was during my first solo exhibition in west Kensington. and they'd been invited through a mutual friend of ours who runs a vintage store in Shoreditch called Bread & Butter.
After the show they expressed their appreciation for both the art and entertainment I'd organised and conveyed how they where having an event the next day, as they showed support I was eager to check out their pop up event and from then we quickly became well aquanted and discussed ideas of collaborating at their next pop up in Dam.
This opportunity abroad was incentivised by Finn (CEO and co founder of Nalu) who conveyed a core component of Nalu's principles: "it's about creating a community of creatives and consumers that will come together to make change, change for the lives of children not given the opportunity of education, and in developing the brand, would inturn elevate the lives and futures of those less fortunate as our own.
In discussing this further with Finn, he conveyed that children in India around the age of 12-14+, aren't provided with school uniform. And without it, aren't allowed to continue their education in school. In witnessing this himself at a young age. He and his sister Dali, made it a goal that majority of profits made would contribute towards providing these uniforms.
This combined with the creative and innovative team behind Nalu prompted my decision to embark on this collaborative journey.
Prior to this event I'd not attempted live performance art, however, it felt like a natural stepping stone as my work embodies the present moment and process, becoming a dance around the canvas. The artwork at its core is abstract expressionism, and I've gathered various inspiration from artists such as Jackson Pollock (Abstract Expressionist) & Jean Michel-Basquit (Neo expressionist) whose work embodies movement and style, that additionally raise questions upon modern; social, political and cultural events.
