Emerging from my ongoing material exploration, the work Becoming has shifted my understanding of what an artwork can be. Through constructing, suspending, and later dismantling it, I became acutely aware of how material, space, gravity, and duration actively shape the life of a piece. Rather than existing as a fixed object, Becoming revealed itself as something contingent—formed through dialogue with its environment and taking on a life of its own, extending beyond the maker’s hands.
The work takes the form of a silk yardage composed of 216 modular units connected and suspended in space as interlacing, lattice-like panels. Constructed from fused, naturally dyed silk and laser-cut modules measuring 25 cm square, the units are assembled into two row configurations, each three modules wide and measuring 75 cm across when joined side by side. The rows are designed to fan open along one edge while remaining contained along the other. Attached from top to bottom in a repeating A–B sequence, they create a continuous, flowing, S-like formation.
Suspended in space, the panels extend beyond a flat surface, taking on a sculptural presence while still revealing their delicate, textile qualities. The connection points are intentionally non-permanent, allowing the modules to be undone, reconfigured, and built upon.
Becoming was first shown as two continuous panels, suspended in space. After ten days, the work—consisting of one hundred parts pinned together—was deinstalled and taken apart. At that time, I observed that the once-flat modules had taken on new shapes. They carried the memory of being connected, draped, and hung. Although forever changed, they can continue to be reimagined and built upon.
With gentle coaxing, and steam, each module was shaped into a new version of itself. Through this act of care, I have come to understand the work and myself as being a part of a cycle. Forever evolving, without end… Becoming
This work will be on display in BEING, my upcoming exhibition at the Alberta Craft Discovery Gallery in Edmonton. The exhibition runs from March 7 to April 18, with the opening reception on Saturday, March 7, from 2–4 pm.
“BEING by Natalie Gerber positions fibre as a site of embodied research. Gerber investigates patterns in relation to the body through layered silk, cotton, and linen, digitally cut, etched, and structurally supported. The work moves from surface to sculpture, testing density, drape, and tension while holding process as meaning rather than precursor. An accordion archive, material studies, and suspended textile forms trace learning, unlearning, and material negotiation. Works urge viewers to encounter craft as lived inquiry: provisional, vulnerable, and continually in formation.”
Location: Alberta Craft Discovery Gallery 10186 - 106 Street, Edmonton, AB, T5J 1H4 map
Images: Britta Kokemor
