The Foundry art space in Dubai is hosting In My Garden, a solo show by French artist Olivia Babel who specialises in fibre art. One has an opportunity to admire her artworks until the 31st of August, 2023.
In the exhibition, she showcases her textile sculptures. Different abstract gardens full of rich natural colours are presented on walls or in frames. In these textured works, the artist expresses her vision of greenery with poetry and delicacy.
Having always been inspired by the world of nature, after travelling to Africa and the Caribbean Babel discovered a passion for flora, natural landscapes, and topography. She tries to enhance and refine wild vegetation by translating them into embroidered and woven form. She experiments with the effects of reducing the vast scale of landscapes to stitches. “Through these processes, I’m exploring wilderness,” the artist says.
Working on looms or on wooden frames made to measure, Babel weaves her art pieces by hand. She utilises rare French techniques; she interprets the French knot stitch with the loop weave technique. The materials she uses are natural wool (she hand dyes it by herself), natural cotton thread, and satin fabrics.
About the artist
Olivia Babel (born in Lyon, France) a textile artist and sculptor residing in Lyon. She started to learn fibre art with her grandmother, who was an embroiderer. Later, she studied textile design at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts of Lyon, France. She also studied at the Ecole Supérieure des Beaux Arts of Angers, France; her specialisation was Fiber Art.
With her ancestors coming from many countries (France, Portugal, Brazil, Senegal, and others), the artist draws her inspiration from cartography. In her works, she depicts different territories in all their forms, whether it be fertile or arid, and this way she questions our relation to the environment. “All my handwoven sculptures represent various territories like a metaphor of my various cultures,” Babel says.
The artist has her works displayed in a number of solo and group shows in France (she took part in Biennale Objet Textile at Musée du textile Roubaix, France, in 2018), the UAE, South Korea, and Sweden. In 2018, Babel also was among the participants of Bienal Internacional de arte textil – Contextile (Guimarães, Portugal).
To learn more about In My Garden, please visit the show’s official web page.
You might also be interested in visiting The Bloom Room by Melis Buyruk.
