Preparations are well underway for UAL’s Online Graduate Showcase, with the Chelsea College of Arts show opening virtually on 28 July. As students add the finishing touches to their projects, we caught up with third year BA Fine Art student Naima Sutton.
As the UK went into lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Naima stayed in London and set up a home studio in her living room. She used cities as a point of inspiration, saying they “reflect our globalised world, and a melting pot of cultural influences that we embrace in our identities.”
Naima creates multimedia installation works that explore the ways diaspora and cultural identity manifest through community and music. Her work is regularly shown in casual or gritty settings such as warehouses and basements as a way of subverting the elitism and classism that is often attached to fine art. With bright neon colours, graffiti-inspired patterns and clashing imagery, the work draws on themes of celebration. This vibrancy represents the act of healing through joy, and speaks to the role that music takes in Afro-Caribbean communities.
How have you adapted your practice for working outside of the college studio?
The COVID-19 lockdown forced me to compromise in a way I had never done before, and following an initial creative block I found myself being freer with my practice and enjoying the process far more than I had before. It allowed me to diminish the role of expectation and trust more in my instincts. I’ve learnt that these compromises and challenges are also part of the experimental process and can bring about incredible developments that sticking to a rigid outcome simply cannot provide.
Tell us more about your Graduate Showcase submission
I have created an installation piece entitled RESONANCE from collected vintage speakers and televisions. My concept was the mental associations we make between music, visual media, physical space, and memory. I focused on the emotional side of this process, in particular feelings of nostalgia, which is why I chose to work with analogue technology as, in a digital age, it evokes this nostalgia.
The intention of the piece was to illustrate the ways in which we associate music with emotion, so the found footage is an essential part of it. I would listen to a selection of songs and then interpret my emotions visually through collected footage, writing and drawing.
A few examples of the songs I listened to included:
- Nights by Frank Ocean – I was inspired to use a lot of cityscapes because I connect the song to my experience of moving back to London for university.
- DUCKWORTH. by Kendrick Lamar – I chose an extract from the movie Moonlight where he was swimming for the first time because I connect the song with water and a sense of rebirth through taking ownership of our identities.
- DREAMIN by SLIGHT – Listening to this made me think of trains passing in a subway because I would always listen to it on the train and the movement of the city felt like it was pulsating in time with the music.
- Do Ya Like! by Starz – I included footage of animated phones in my work because this song reminded me of talking to old friends on the phone.
It’s hard to explain all the intricate connections because a lot of it is internal emotional associations, which is always hard to explain beyond “that’s just how it feels to me”. A big part of the piece is the way we associate nostalgia with music, how we connect songs with how we feel at particular times in our lives, or about particular people, places or media.
What about your plans after graduating?
I would like to explore set design and music production. In terms of set design I like Hannah Beachler (who among other projects has worked on Marvel’s Black Panther). As for music producers 9th Wonder is my absolute favourite - I like that he also gives lectures on hip hop at universities. So far I’ve just been dabbling in these areas as COVID-19 has made it a bit difficult to engage with these spaces beyond the internet, but doing so will be the next step for me.
Do you have any tips for students who are just about to start BA Fine Art at Chelsea?
My best advice is to make work without expectations, this has been my best method of remaining positive and continuing to produce work during this time. Finding the playfulness in my practice has been incredibly enjoyable. I found the BA Fine Art course at Chelsea to be really fulfilling because it allowed me the space to direct my own learning. I’ve always struggled with authority and rules so the self-directed study route has proved really fruitful. It has allowed me to create on my own terms.
Visit the UAL Graduate Showcase
Find out more about BA Fine Art
Follow Naima on Instagram: @mnkey_businezz