Feeling the Way (2023), Inkjet on plywood and Braille signage. Work commissioned for Engaging Pembroke, Pembroke College, Cambridge. September - October 2023.
Feeling the Way was inspired by a walk-through Pembroke college on an unusually hot summer day. That day the heat exaggerated the scents in the air; light and shadow were more pronounced. For one day only permission had been given for the artists to touch some of the college’s collection of artworks, furniture and architecture. It was an invitation to take time to engage not only with the meaning of the place but also its history, its materiality.
This prompted Nathan to re-imagine the walk in retrospect via a series of word pairs. These words – mnemonic traces – were then obscured by the artist as an invitation to spectators (via a combination of visual play and touch) to take time themselves and allow the words to surface and make sense. An integral part of Feeling the Way are the Braille signs reminding everyone, both sighted and non-sighted to interact afresh with the world around us.
For more information about Engaging Pembroke - including opening times - visit Pembroke College website - here.