Starla Perpétua Fernandes (she/her)

My work echoes my relationship with aural landscapes, embodying and encompassing a fascination I have, triggered by an emotional personal experience, resulting in a desire to document ambience as a grounding technique. Using foam clay, everyday soundscapes are transformed into monochromatic 3-D drawings, translating momentary sounds into visuospatial forms.

Responding to ambient sound begins immediately, as sonance is pooling around me so I am creating my response spontaneously, in real-time. I work in public spaces – their varied soundscapes provide instances of surprise and discovery – a child’s laugh, a train screeching to a halt, the song of birds – each sound is a chance for me to capture its essence, solidifying the transient.

These initial responses become ‘mementos’ – which are then collated and arranged onto a wearable perspex acrylic base, to become wearable objects. The collection ‘Full Circle’ is a presentation of work with a monochromatic palette to present the mementos in their purest form, expressing all their nuance with shape.

Photo taken by @shannontofts