Mona

Manon Awst (1983 - )

Drawing/Mixed Media - Pencil and spray paint on cartridge paper

2021

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  • About the work
    Location
    Country: UK
    City: London
    Place: Government Art Collection
    Manon Awst explains of her drawing Mona: ‘It was made during lockdown when I was mainly confined to the studio, which looks out across the Menai Strait to Ynys Môn (Anglesey) where I grew up. It is one in a series of drawings of imaginary monoliths inspired by the geological legacy of the island, a subject I keep coming back to in my work. Mona is the Latin name for Môn, and the Monian Supergroup is a geological term for the island’s oldest rocks, for which it has received its status as a UNESCO Global Geopark.’
    The detailed graphite structure is juxtaposed with spontaneous marks resembling graffiti, which personifies the rock and is reminiscent of the engraved Neolithic standing stones which populate the island. Different scales of time are also represented – the careful, layered pencil marks pointing to geological time and the quick, immediate spray paint suggesting human intervention.
  • About the artist
    Manon Awst (born 1983) is an artist based in Caernarfon, Wales, who makes sculptures and site-specific artworks woven with ecological narratives, which focus in particular on the contrast between geological and human timescales. The way materials transform locations and communities is at the forefront of her creative research. Her interdisciplinary approach is shaped by her upbringing in North Wales and her academic studies in architecture at the University of Cambridge. The artist returned to her native North Wales in 2016, following 10 years of collaborative practice in Berlin as part of artist-duo Awst & Walther. She has exhibited widely in the UK and Germany, including the National Museum Wales; Mostyn, Llandudno; Georg Kolbe Museum, Berlin; and Kunstverein Braunschweig. Her work is part of the National Library of Wales and the Welsh Parliament collections, and she has long-term public installations on the Wales Coast Path at Nant Gwrtheyrn and at Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Berlin. She was a nominated recipient of a Henry Moore Foundation Artist Award in 2022.
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  • Details
    Title
    Mona
    Date
    2021
    Medium
    Drawing/Mixed Media - Pencil and spray paint on cartridge paper
    Dimensions
    height: 105 cm; width: 77 cm; depth: 3.5 cm
    Acquisition
    Purchased from the artist March 2023, through the Art XUK project 2020-21
    Provenance
    Purchased from the artist, March 2023
    GAC number
    19183