The sensuality of things is ever present in Nigin Beck’s works: softness, beauty and lushness despite reduction. Then there’s the past and the ephemeral – a nostalgic wistfulness without kitsch that conveys the complexity and density of the meanings and stories without needing to read explanations. Tomorrow evening (30.10.2022) Beck’s new exhibition Beware o wanderer, the road is moving too opens at Hoto – Home to Artists, in a new location on Kreuzberg’s Bergmannstraße. On display are large-format textile works, which are, as always, full of emotion and history. Inspired by the aged linen she found in her godmother’s country house, Beck spent a long time searching for the right fabrics. It was the traces of time, embroidered initials, missing buttons, stains, tears, mistakes and holes that captivated her.
Few objects seem so close, so private and so protective as the fabrics on our skin. Few objects define their wearer so much while showing their marks so quickly. Having searched for a long time, Beck finally found what she was looking for in a traditional upholstery shop in northern Italy, with lengths of fabric that felt just right and which would accompany the artist and her family for several months. They were handled, wrapped and used to cover and protect her before she finally mended, repaired, restored and stretched them onto frames. Exhibited at Hoto, they unite the private and the political, stories of migration and fragility, femininity, tradition and transience, opening up a reflective space of intimacy – both of artist and of material.
Text: Hilka Dirks / Photos: Nigin Beck & Ina Niehoff
Hoto – Home to Artists, Bergmannstr.109, 10965 Berlin–Kreuzberg; map
Nigin Beck: Beware o wanderer, the road is moving too: 01–29.10.2022
Opening Fri. 30.09.2022 from 17h
@hotoberlin
@niginthekid
