Naomi Harwin
I invite you to close your eyes and tune into your breath. Watch the inhale, feeling the sensations of the air as it enters your nostrils and again as it exists on the exhale. Take a few deep breaths and observe the pause at top of the inhale and end of the exhale. Feel the brief moment of suspension. Acknowledge any sensations of breeze or clothes against your skin. Feel the weight of your body as it sinks into your seat or your feet connecting to the floor.
In a moment you will open your eyes, and explore the work Finding Spaciousness. A digital experiment that brings the shapes and sounds of an imagined environment into a space to take time and play. I’d like you to interact with the space in whatever way feels right. Consider what the forms remind you of. Or when you last noticed a pleasing arrangement of shapes in your everyday environment. When you’re ready open your eyes.
Some of Naomi’s drawings are interactive. Hover over the drawing and click to interact it.
The interactive feature only works on desktop.
I invite you to take a walk or make a journey. Is there a route that you take regularly? As you begin, tune into your body and its movements as you walk. Bring attention to the soles of your feet. Observe the weight of your body dropping through them, while becoming aware of the support of the ground below. Witness the sensations of the breath, the breeze against your skin, feelings of warmth or coolness and the sounds around you.
Bringing a curious and appreciative attention to your environment, do you notice any shapes, forms or structures that you may have overlooked before? Allow your eyes to really explore. What do you see? Maybe you notice the contrast of two materials, or the pleasing curve of a line or the repetition of a pattern. The interaction of shadows and light cast across a surface or glimpsed through a network of shapes. Allow your eyes to make a journey too. You might choose to explore your environment through sound. Focusing on the nuance of noises that filter in and out of your awareness. Maybe your interactions with your environment initiate those sounds, or perhaps you’re just a witness.
Capture one of these moments, take a photo, record a sound or describe what you witness. Share this with us on our open gallery.
You might decide to take it a step further and collect a series of moments to build a new work such as a collage, print or soundscape.
About Naomi Harwin
Working predominately in sculpture and installation, Naomi Harwin’s work centres around sensory experience and perceptual encounters. Most recently she has been exploring how bodily perception can cultivate resilience in the face of disorientation. With societal and environmental uncertainty, feelings of instability can arise and we seek out connection. Harwin explores how we connect with; our bodies, each other and our environment through the senses available to us. Creating interactive and mixed media artworks that reference sensory and inclusive design, contact improvisation, architectural scenography and play, she aims to create moments of connectivity and shared experience.
Naomi Harwin graduated from Norwich University of the Arts in 2014 and more recently participated in East Bristol Contemporary’s Night School VII in 2021. She was a Studio Artist at Wysing Arts Centre in Cambridge from 2015 to 2021 and is now a Studio Member at Paradise Works in Manchester. Previous commissions, exhibitions and features include: Hospital Rooms at Northside House, Norwich (2021), Encounter, Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge (2020), To be an object is to possess a boundary, 1961 Projects, In Personam, Singapore (2019), Like-minded, Minimal Zine issue 01 (2019), Non-working hours, 1961 Projects , Singapore(2018), We:You,Me, Firstsite, Colchester (2017), AD HOC + TRADE Swap Editions, Art Licks, SET and Castor Projects, London (2017), in between things, Nunns Yard, Norwich (2016) and ‘O’, Airspace Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent (2015).