Shelagh wakely biography channel 7

We are open late on Thursdays. Find out more. You smell it before you see it; a carpet of golden yellow turmeric fills the air with a pungent aroma. Sprinkled over the floor in flowing patterns inspired by Baroque gardens, the spice forms a thin layer yet its presence pervades the entire space. A mantle of scarlet silk was laid over the marble floor tiles of Palazzo Ruini in Reggio Emilia.

Dramatic installations like these were the culmination of years of experimentation.

Shelagh wakely biography channel 7: Shelagh Wakely (–) ; Representation

For her first solo show, in , Wakely carpeted the floor of the AIR Gallery, London with tissue paper torn into delicate pieces resembling cherry blossom. Twelve years later she covered the floor of Union Chapel, North London, with organic shapes derived from shells, fingers, petals and leaves cut from the pages of style magazines. The shapes remind me of the famous Bisto ads in which the delicious smell of gravy is seen wafting through the air in sinuous clouds.

The association is not as ridiculous as it might seem since the inspiration for Nymphs came from perfume ads, and the cut-outs soon morphed into stencils through which spices such as cumin, ginger and turmeric were sprinkled to intoxicating effect. The stencils were also used to dust the floors of galleries such as the Ikon, Birmingham , Cairn, Nailsworth and Angel Row, Nottingham with gold, aluminium or bronze powder, producing complex arabesques gleaming with reflected light.