Furniture Memoirs – Katy Cottrell
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Artist Katy Cottrell’s new exhibition Furniture Memoirs delves into the untold and forgotten stories of trees used in the production of domestic furniture.
Cottrell portrays the intrinsic value of old furniture through the integration of modern marquetry and craft. Her artistic interventions reinvigorate discarded furniture to become objects of beauty. The ecological history of diverse timbers is revealed through inlaid and embroidered imagery on the furniture pieces. Storm-felled rewarewa and 40,000 year old swamp kauri, a remnant of a fallen forest, are given new life as a coffee table adorned with native taonga. A tattered antique mahogany chair, damaged beyond usability is salvaged with embroidery portraying the spindle weed that shrouded its landfill bound frame.
Cottrell reclaims commodities of daily use to draw out a deeper history. The chairs and tables within the exhibition reflect on the ecology and value of tree species. Furniture Memoirs reminds us that the furniture we use each day has a tale to tell.