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Textiles (MA)

Natasha Motaghi

Natasha Motaghi is a British/Iranian visual artist, maker, collector, magpie and sea swimmer, born and raised in Manchester, now based in London. She graduated from Falmouth University with a 2:1 BA (Hons) in Textile Design. She focused on zero-waste weaving for genderless fashion during this time and won the Textile Society Award 2020.

She is constantly thinking about how words and imagery can be collated together, using Mythology, History, Politics, Pop Culture and the rituals of hand-crafted artefacts to guide her way of making.

ژن، ژیان، ئازادی



Degree Details

School of DesignTextiles (MA)RCA2023 at Battersea and Kensington

RCA Kensington, Darwin Building, Seventh floor

Natasha stood in a green swimming costume facing the camera, just out of the cold sea, 2 shipping boats far in the background

Natasha's work focuses on mono-printing, jacquard weaving, and garment construction, using double entendres to alter the final garment's portrayal and/or usage. Mono-printing plays a considerable role in Natasha's creative process. This allows the thinking time between pen/paper ink/screen to be reduced into a quick motion to capture the moment in a few brushstrokes or pen marks. A one-time product, not adhering to the masses, representative of the ever-changing landscape from which she draws her research and inspiration. 

Extensive research and documentation through photography, film, poetry, archives and objects play a vital role in Natasha's work in helping to interrogate the feelings of melancholy and nostalgia. This interrogation helps craft and map feelings of belonging to the Sea/Land/Britain, including her fetishisation of it. Her recent work has closely examined the great British seaside, its culture and aesthetics and how it can be observed, reviewed and understood through photography, film, writing and printmaking. She will continue this research into the British seaside and how each pocket of the UK's coastline has its own identity, belonging and modern historical significance.

Inspired by CCTV, dads on holidays with their cameras, the Natural History Museums Mineral Collection and Virginia Woolf. She would describe herself as a magpie–a natural collector of objects, words and photos.

Scanned images of menswear shorts from the inside, showing the fly, and part of the hand printed fabric
scanned image of menswear shorts, fabric has been monoprinted in colours of blue/green and then been waxed.
scanned image of menswear shorts, fabric has been monoprinted in colours of blue/green and then been waxed.
Mono-printed shorts, coated in beeswax, lined with cotton.
photo of toile of menswear shorts with integrated pockets
A toile of 'Swimming Trunks' - pockets along the hemline with a drawstring closure so you don't lose your shells while swimming. - Shorts to swim in. - Shorts to collect items in. - Shorts to get dirty in. - Shorts to be at one in the sea in.
archive photos from Natasha's personal collection of family photos on the beach
Research images from my family holidays to the beach, spanning from 1963–2001.
text describing the correct way to do the beach according to natasha. done with sarcasm and humour.
scanned in objects collected from the beach shells, sea glass, arcade tickets, crab claws, photos, sheep wool, beer mat, photos
 
Glory, Grace & TendernessA film documenting the Great British Seaside, highlighting its areas of grace, tenderness and glory in selected places. In an attempt to dissect the British Seaside by how the public interacts with it from a childlike perspective.
gif of a series of cross-eyed jacquard samples in silk and cotton with an abstract design of the sea
Wish You Were Here (lot 1)Series of cross-dyed jacquard samples of an original mono print design (silk and cotton).
series of small rectangle jacquard samples in silk and cotton, monoprinted ontop each with different shades of blue/green/purple
Wish you were here (lot 2)Series of mono-printed jacquard samples of an original mono-print design in silk and cotton. Each design tries to capture the colour and movement of the sea.

Medium:

Silk and cotton jacquard
Is the sea heavy enough for you?A series of mono-prints on newsprint paper, done in oil paints/ink. These investigate a personal relationship to the sea/land of Britain and how this can be explored using colour, line, words and patterns.

My Parents & My Weekend job ♡