Hauwa Clara
I create stories with my hands. This immersive collage wraps around the walls of my room and is reminiscent of the wallpaper I grew up with. The collages are made of magazines from my childhood home, filled with memories. These images, like the wallpaper of my youth give me a nostalgic feeling, knowing these places might not exist forever but are frozen in time by my art. Since I do not have a separate space to create art, this idea came from the need for a self contained room to organize my chaos.
My collages are busy, but I made sure to make them cohesive so that one could walk in, stop, and feel calm while being fully immersed in my work. By playing with proportions and layering I aim to spark a sense of self-awareness for the viewer while they explore. In this space I wanted to provide viewers with a similar sense of validation and comfort that I feel when returning home. The title there is something gentle about this house is a nod to the classic short story The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. While in her story the reader was stuck in a nightmare, in mine I give the audience a chance to walk in and out at their own free will. Like the walls of my childhood home, this piece welcomes you into itself and offers you time to breathe.
