Healing via making, Tau Lewis stitches together memory, history and the Black imaginary.
Lewis’ work is abundantly detailed - tactile, transformative and terrestrial. She works predominantly with fabric and leather to create “soft portraits” using a broad range of techniques from sewing to carving. The labour-intensive processes act as a symbolic mode of healing. Materials like shells, hair, rock and plaster are recycled into fantastical figures and shrines, while objects foraged from numerous cities are constructed into what the artist calls “portraits of the landscape.” Exploring the erasure of Blackness in both art history and Canadian culture, Lewis illuminates the geographica...
Bio
Tau Lewis was born in 1993 in Toronto, Canada, now living between here and New York, USA.
Achievements
In 2020 Lewis was named amongst the best booths at Frieze London by Artsy, and in 2021 her large-scale sculpture Symphony found a permanent home in the National Gallery of Canada.
Did you know?
The time taken to complete each work - often sewn patch by patch from found and re-purposed fabrics - means that Lewis often travels with them between shows and fairs in Canada, Jamaica, England and the US, enriching them with new memories and materials from each location.