Sarah Entwistle

Fascinated by the malleable nature of materials and the historical practice of “spolia” architecture – the appropriation of materials in new forms – as a powerful force against inherited personal and cultural determinism, Entwistle’s larger project is an ongoing dialogue with and the dismantling of the archive of his paternal grandfather and fellow architect, Clive Entwistle (1916-1976), an emblematic and problematic figure of modernism, whom she never met.

The artist converses with the vast collection of unrealised projects and personal papers that reveal her grandfather as a mercurial and complex figure, whose cardinal points of “Architecture, Spirit, Intellect and Sex” reveal the confluence of sex and esoteric activities with his professional practice. The sequences of Clive’s life have become deeply enveloped in a trans-generational obsession addressed through their respective work, as Entwistle continues to filter and digest, on different levels, the contents of the archive. She approaches this material as a means of evaluating her own identity as an architect, artist and woman. She develops objects within sculptural and installation still lives that incorporate singular elements such as hand-woven tapestries, found and remodelled metal cuts, ceramic objects and paper works that often recall domestic furnishings and everyday objects.

The hand-made expressive singularity of each element puts them in contrast with the reproducible and finalised prototypes of the high design typical of the modernist movement. This transmutation process attempts a form of creative and cultural exorcism, and a reckoning with a very personal story.

Sarah Entwistle (London, UK, 1979). She lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Trained as an architect at The Bartlett, UCL and Architectural Association, London, in 2020 the Nivola Museum hosted her first exhibition in an Italian institution. In 2017 she was the recipient of the Artists’ International Development Fund, Arts Council England. In 2014 she received the Foundation Le Corbusier Grant for Visual Artists where in 2015 she presented a solo exhibition, He was my father and I an atom, destined to grow into him. The exhibition coincided with the publication of her experimental biography by Sternberg Press, 2015.