Nadia Attura is a talented artist that mixes landscape collage with tactile collage to create immersive utopian landscapes plucked straight from her imagination. We had a chat with Nadia to discover what keeps her inspired, where her love of art comes from, and whether she has a favourite piece.
NADIA: I’m inspired by nature, green spaces, and when I travel away from my usual environment. I take more notice of my surroundings when travelling - there is an amplified joy of discovering the new, the unfamiliar and it heightens my senses and curiosity.
NADIA: We all perceive colour differently, I think no two people will have the same emotions or associations with colour and memory. My dad was colour blind. My latest trip to Marrakech was so inspiring: the desert, the palmeries and the gardens, as well as the souks, expect lots of orange, purples and greens in the newest works.
NADIA: It has developed from single imagery documentary photography to multi layered, colaged, multimedia using stories which I have created.
NADIA: I feel at my best in nature. It is restorative, energising, calming, soothing, meditative - there is something about being in the green, or by the sea or in a desert landscape that makes you feel like you have come home.
NADIA: All my life I have wanted to use art as an expression, an outlet for me, but I never thought it was possible to make a living from it, so I put it to one side for many years. When I found out we were expecting, I promised my daughter in vitro that I would become the artist I always wanted to be. I was not able to promise myself but I promised her that by the time she was 5 years I would be painting in a field and making a living as an artist. I had no idea how to start or what to do. I worked hard, made lots of mistakes, kept learning and kept going.
NADIA: When an artwork is finished it speaks to you. You cannot add to it or take away from it, it is the final stop of your destination with it. And you have to let it go.
NADIA: Two weeks in total for each work. I usually work on three pieces at the same time, finding inspiration with one adding it to another, stepping back from one when I feel stuck, or something clicks with another one. All three interweave but are very different. I usually work on a cactus, a botanical and a backwaters. Then one work will begin to emerge and I concentrate on that. Beginning a piece is the hardest, I never know where it is going to go.
Cactus Grove - Small by Nadia Attura, £350
NADIA: I am always proud of my latest piece. I am still in the zone with it, tied to it. Until I start a journey with the next piece, then I let go of the last one and move my focus onto the next one, the newest journey. I have 2 pieces: Constantia and Jeløya, which both got into the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. I am proud of them for this.
To discover Nadia's stunning collection of artworks, click here.
