To take on the responsibility of being an artist, one must possess the desire to inspire, to create a sensation of exploration and to challenge people to see in a way they hadn’t previously. Norms must be shattered, and beliefs, whether acknowledged or buried, must be questioned.
For Simone Brewster, her role was born out of a realization of absence – a lack of diversity and representation of people of color, particularly women, in the design world. It is a calling to force people to think, to explore ideas of gender and race and to fill the void she witnessed with pieces that would challenge viewers to contemplate the roles objects play in telling us who they are, who we are and how we view and acknowledge diversity in our everyday environments.
Brewster speaks of “intimate architecture,” the idea of applying core architectural principles to objects, the smaller, more intimate scale amplifying the emotional response that material and texture can provoke. For her show “The Shape of Things” at NOW Gallery in London, the artist endeavored not just to engage with the viewer but also to inspire them to engage with themselves – the part “that wants to create and ask questions and find solutions, to play and to have fun.”
The exhibition included her own favorite piece, which is also one of the most challenging and earliest works of her career: The Negress (pictured above). The object presents itself as a simple black chaise, but with closer examination, the parts of a deconstructed female form – breasts, legs, head – are discovered to be the supporting elements, each trapped beneath the seat in a position of service. The juxtaposition of beauty and confrontation leaves viewers with more questions than immediate answers, which is precisely as Brewster intended.
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