British-Indian sculptor Yasmin Watts addresses what we might learn about human interaction in the urban environment through the migrant’s experience. Utilising her architectural experience, Watts creates theatrical settings inspired by the forms and scales of the city to place her alienated sculpted human figures within. Playing with proportion and position, gesture and expression, Watts asks: what do humans, as a fundamentally social species, need in order to thrive? More specifically, what might a sculpture practice bring to understandings of what it means to live with one another, in heterogeneous urban communities structured around principles of inclusivity and care?
Watts is uncovering the relationships and narratives between individuals and their surroundings, creating works as sculptural dialogues, where sculpted human figures are arranged in an architectural urban setting of imagination. These sculptures address themes of cross-cultural narratives within modern cultures through a migrant's experience; an experience of assimilation, acceptance and belonging.
Watts is creating public sculpture that is more three-dimensional than traditional sculpture or that of most contemporary sculpture. Her objective is to progress her small-scale pieces to the creation of large-scale temporary sculptures for UK festivals lasting a week through to full-size micro-space installations in public spaces that last up to 5 years.
Framing the space
As a sculptor and architect, I work within the interdisciplinary fields of figurative sculpture, public sculpture, ephemeral architecture, sited in urban public spaces. My practice integrates sculpture and architecture, creating a play of scale and form.
I am building a foundation with a set of components, using an evolving vocabulary to explore a new approach to public sculpture and offer the viewer a new type of engagement. This novel viewpoint considers how public sculpture can reflect a wider representation of our current diverse society.
I bring both disciplines together in settings which are influenced by theatre design, but which aim to be public artworks for the public to visit and to become a part of; not only to be viewed from a distance.
The public is invited into the artworks, to enter and interact with the component parts, to feel empowered. There is an invitation to ask more: why is it there, does it mean anything, how does it relate to the viewer? This research proposes an alternative public art space, asking how modern-day life might be encapsulated in public sculptures depicting modern people in their current conditions.
Using my architectural experience, I apply a methodology of expressing spatial volumetric forms, creating perspectives and vistas; describing these forms of ephemeral architecture as architectural elements. Ephemeral linked with architecture describes lighter types of structures and enclosures in weight and form, which are transient across time and space; suitable forms to place in urban public spaces with our evolving society. My architectural elements create a micro-space: a uniquely contained space within the ‘wrapping’ of a larger public space; creating an atmospheric place of mystery, intrigue and memory.
A methodology of practice
My methodology of practice describes the main themes of the making process. Key areas are the importance of hand-crafting skills through drawing and making, the creation of atmosphere in the micro-spaces, figure-ground analysis as a means of curating the sculptural elements among potential interactive visitor walkways, polyvocality as a tool in creating dialogues, and collaboration as a process of realising future projects.
The process of devising the novel public spaces of my practice is shown in the ‘micro-spaces’ section.
Creating ‘atmosphere’ is an integral part of my practice. Atmosphere is crafted to inform the creation of intimate spaces, my micro-spaces, with the viewer guided through the experience to discover an understanding of the sculpture within its social context. Atmosphere changes the human experience in terms of biological rhythms and cycles.
I work with light, shadow, echoes, aromas, air and sounds. All are continuously and constantly changing; they are rhythms of nature. The integral effect is physical, emotional and spiritual. The effects create a dynamic connection with nature, but also a tension, increasing the human awareness of our connection with each other.
An invitation to participate
Introducing a novel approach to public sculpture and how artworks can entice the viewing public into the space, described as a ‘micro-space’ within a larger open public area. The means of providing a dynamic experience is discussed in terms of ‘passages of space’; the patterns of light and shade created through the views and vistas in the micro-spaces. The viewers’ sensory experiences are discussed in relation to interconnecting sounds and a corresponding awareness.
Acculturation
Local communities in UK cities consist of multicultural groups which are constantly changing. These groups include migrants negotiating new ways of life, which is their process of acculturation. I view acculturation as a process of two cultures which connect in an exchange of visions, principles and mannerisms. This term challenges the colonial view of ‘assimilation’ which presumes a minority group will adopt the beliefs and values of a dominant social convention.
My acculturation
Born in London of migrant Indian parents, my earlier years were spent in India and Pakistan where I absorbed and assimilated the juxtaposition of cross-cultures. These experiences benefitted me in later years, in cyclical immersions, when working in Paris, Melbourne and Dubai, but have also made me question where I belong, and also where fellow travellers of migrancy belong.