Yeshé Magar
About
Yeshé Magar is a British-Nepalese interdisciplinary artist and material researcher based in London, who approaches their work through practice and material-led research, at the intersection of design, technology and biology. Yeshé studied at the University for the Creative Arts, gained a BA (Hons) in Illustration Animation from Kingston University, and is completing an MA in Jewellery & Metal at the Royal College of Art. Yeshé was shortlisted for the CoLAB Drawing Prize, London, UK (Oct 2021), awarded second place at the Annual Ambit Competition, London, UK (Sept 2021) and received the Behrens Foundation Scholarship, (Royal College of Art) (Sept 2021).
Statement
Yeshé’s work focuses on the rethinking and performativity of materials in order to communicate narratives of human existence, often collaborating with the human body to create pieces that are immersive, interactive and sensorial, urging those who view and interact with the pieces to question their position in the world.
Recently they have been working with living materials such as mycelium, growing structures that range from sculptural self-portraits, researching the entanglement and cyclical nature of life and death, to luxury automotive design – questioning a conceptual future where the vehicle’s structural frame lives and breathes alongside its user. Additionally, Yeshé has been working with microgreens, using their network of root structures to construct forms, fill spaces, and bind non-living material together. Allowing the living material to ‘perform’, Yeshé uses the plant’s growth to embody concepts of entanglement, through the natural development of a rhizomatic root system.
Although throughout Yeshé’s studies at the Royal College of Art they have created sculptural narrative works by understanding and exploring the poetic nature of material and matter, their main interest is in interdisciplinary design, material research and science, and they hope to apply their knowledge of materials and design research across disciplines and different areas of industry.
Continuum
Continuum
Continuum is a sculpture of the artist’s head made from live oyster mushroom mycelium. The piece is Yeshé’s reflection on the cyclical nature of life and death; understanding and accepting that to maintain ourselves on this planet, we should maintain the net of existence of which we're a part of. The sculpture is living and will continue to grow mushrooms that can be harvested and consumed.
This sculptural piece of living art simultaneously presents, the past (how life began on this planet), the present (how nature’s collaborations are essential to our survival) and the future (how life will re-emerge, even if/when humanity is gone).
Medium: Oyster Mushroom Mycelium
Size: 320mmx320mmx320mm
Re(Generate, Form, Vive)
Re(Generate, Form, Vive)
Re(Generate, Form, Vive) is a piece of wearable bio art that grows organic vegetation suitable for consumption. The crocheted vest is made from hand-spun merino wool, with cress seeds embedded into the fibres.
The experimental textile is the artist’s exploration of nature’s powerful ability to regenerate, reform and revive wherever there is “space”, touching on its dialogue with time. The performance of living materials in real-time, as we see it grow and reform onto, into, and through a manmade structure that encases the human form, embodying the concept of entanglement, through the use of materials and performance.
The architecture of the crocheted vest acts as a frame, allowing the holes to become windows of opportunity for root systems to grow and reinforce the structure through rhizomatic networks. For the cress, where there is space, there is possibility for life, uncontained by the framework of wool, disappearing borders. Space can now be seen not as the lack of something, but rather as the capacity to carry and hold what the future has to offer. Whatever happens to humanity, nature will always prevail, filling up space, to Re(Generate, Form, Vive).
Medium: Merino wool, Cress seeds
Size: 470mmx70mmx350mm
Subject <--> Matter
Subject< -- > Matter
Subject < -- > Matter, is an interactive ferrofluid suspension sculpture that explores and reveals the interconnectedness of man and the material world. The sculpture takes live biosignals from the body using electrodes that attach to the skin. Using Arduino, the biodata is used to influence the movement of magnets, which will move the ferrofluid matter inside the sculpture. ‘Subject< -- > Matter’ will give you the opportunity to manipulate matter using your emotions, in real time.
Medium: Concrete, Glass, Ferrofluid, Magnets, Arduino