Oxmarket showcase for graduating fine art students

This year, after a run at the university’s Bognor campus, the degree show now switches to the Oxmarket Contemporary in Chichester from June 25-July 7, funded by The Arts Society Chichester.

Nadia describes her textile practice as an exploration of textile materials and fibres, specifically the manipulation of hessian: “I first deconstruct black and brown sacking into its essential fibres and reconstruct into various woven forms and structures. I view my work as a creative conversation between myself and the hessian.”

Nadia explains: “Initially I was looking for university around London. I did an art and design course but I knew that I wanted to go into textiles and I wanted to find somewhere that had that fine art element and that drew me to Chichester. I was looking at previous students’ artwork and at the final degree shows to see the heightened level of degree-level work. When I saw it I thought that I could really see my art style developing here. I read what the course consists of and what the modules were. I took a gap year working full time to think about what I wanted to do. Options are very limited for textiles so I was looking for a fine art textiles course and when I saw the level that they had here and that there's very much a strong textiles department, it just felt like a great fit.

“I feel like I've always been quite conceptual in my art. I've never been about the final product. It has been about the meaning behind it and my degree has consisted of one long experimentation and exploration with one material, hessian, and being allowed to continuously explore and manipulate this one material has allowed me to really develop my techniques and my approach. I have always been interested in the material. I think it's always been an overlooked material. It feels like something quite industrial in that it is strong and it is durable and it is used for particular purposes but I feel that it could also be a beautiful material. It has made me think about the different forms that can come out of it.”