Artist Juliette Losq’s work describes the borderlands at the edge of human habitation. Reclaimed by nature, these regions become refuges for wildlife, dens for children, and spaces of speculation on what might have gone on before and what may be occurring out of sight. For our Secret Garden exhibition, she created an immersive piece called ‘Sanctorium’. We spoke with Juliette to find out more:
Your work often looks at the battles waged between urban landscapes and the wild forces of nature, what is it about this that interests you?
It’s the fact that these battles take place on borderlands. Historically, people made settlements in forest clearings, and fought against the forest and its inhabitants to maintain these. Nowadays, where you see these battles taking place, it tends to be where an area has fallen into neglect. I feel like these kinds of overgrown, overlooked places retain some of the thrill and sense or fear of the unknown that those early settlers experienced at the edge of the forest.
Your installations are so exquisitely detailed, can you talk us through your process?
The drawing process I use is inspired by printmaking – specifically etching – techniques. I build up the image by alternating layers of watercolour and ink with resist, in much the same way as you develop an etching plate by masking certain tones out before the acid can bite into it.
In my case, the image is built up from the lightest areas (which are masked off first) to the darkest tones. Once all the resist is removed, I use brushes of varying sizes to work in further detail. I’ve been working like this since the first year of my BA at Wimbledon College of Art (2004-5). I did a printmaking module where I learned about the etching process. I then began to collect examples of etchings and woodcuts from the nineteenth century, which have continued to inspire my work.
What was the inspiration behind Sanctorium, the piece you created for our Secret Garden exhibition?
The piece is inspired by an abandoned slipway that I discovered behind my former studio on Platt’s Eyot Island (on the River Thames in Richmond). The foliage had grown around the metal girders and formed a kind of grove that you could enter and explore. I photographed this place from multiple angles, and used copies of these photos to build a paper model that was intended to recreate a sense of the original site as a three dimensional space. This model was ultimately scaled up to form the installation.
Whilst Sanctorium (my installation) is not directly inspired by The Secret Garden, I felt it captured the sense of discovering and exploring a hidden, contained space that I remembered from the book. There’s a feeling that the rest of the world has carried on outside of this space, but within it, time has slowed down, lending it a kind of magical quality.
What was your first encounter with the story of The Secret Garden, did you read the book as a child?
I had a copy of the book and remember reading it with my grandmother, who also enjoyed the story. She was a keen gardener and I remember when she became very ill towards the end of her life, she described a beautiful garden that that she could see, and it reminded me very much of the book. I still get a lot of comfort from visiting the garden she created as I feel close to her there. I think the book embodies this sense of the garden as a sanctuary where you can escape from the real world. I think we all want to find a place like this.
Are there any particular challenges you come across when making an installation?
I find all of the large scale installations challenging to make and I only really relax and appreciate them when they’re up! The main issue is that they cannot be constructed until I am on site, so, although they are based on a scale model, I never really know what they are going to feel like – how they are going to work as a space for the viewer – until they are built. I have to be ready to add or remove elements to make the illusion of perspectival space come together with the experience of real space, so I always bring spare drawings with me that may be needed to achieve this.
Are you a gardener yourself?
I live in a flat with my partner, so we don’t have a garden at home so much as a collection of pots outside the front door. However, during lockdown we decided to develop the yard at his workshop (he’s a cabinetmaker – and helped me to build Sanctorium) which is around the corner from where we live. We installed a pond and rockery, and he built five raised beds out of wooden palettes. Two of these are used for flowers and the rest for fruits and vegetables. We also have a greenhouse there where we grow tomatoes.
Are you working on any other projects you’re looking forward to?
I’ll be exhibiting in Infinite Beauty at The Arc, Winchester, 9 Sep – 16 Nov 2022
The exhibition investigates the enduring appeal of nature as a subject for leading British contemporary artists, and explores the way in which artists interact with natural forms: plants, animals, habitats and the wider landscape and, in some cases, how their work comments on the ways human activity impacts the ecologies around us.
I’ll also be showing in the RWA 169th Annual Open Exhibition in Bristol. Open from Saturday 8 Oct 2022 – Sunday 8 Jan 2023 10am to 5pm (closed Mondays).
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