Profile: Yvonne Silva – Only Natural Design Competitions

Yvonne Silva

Willem de Kooning Academy

Fine Art BA / BFA

The beginning of my fascination with natural pigments arose during a walk with my mother, the last one I would take with her. In that intimate moment, her eye caught a fragile blue cornflower, and amid our shared emotions, this simple natural detail became a symbol of transience and beauty. This moment of connection with nature served as a catalyst for my growing awareness of the deeper meanings hidden within the landscape. I developed an herbarium, a collection of dried flowers and leaves from which I extracted their colours. Next to each fragile specimen, I placed a small color swatch measuring 3 x 5 cm, a testimony to the shades that once adorned these living organisms. Each petal and leaf represents a moment in time, a moment of brilliance and radiance that will never be repeated. My fascination with natural pigments and the importance of using mineral pigments directly sourced from the landscape are central points in my artistic vision. These pigments not only add aesthetic elements to my work but also represent the unique geological properties and history of the environment. My art evolved from early experiments with collages, where I played with shapes and colors, to a more profound exploration of natural pigments, drawing from a process of mourning. By creating colour samples, I literally capture the essence of the landscape. These samples serve as tangible documentation and forge a physical connection between my art and the natural world. The process of collecting, processing, and applying these pigments not only deepens my bond with the environment but also enables me to capture the intrinsic beauty of the landscape in a way that invites others to contemplate our connection with nature more deeply. My artistic evolution is imbued with the memory of that moment of shared admiration for the fragile blue cornflower. This experience has enriched my work and given it an emotional depth that invites others to explore and cherish their own connection to nature. Through my work, I hope to inspire others and I hope that they will react to my work with a desire to learn more about the natural world and their place in it.

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Rendition of Impermanence

Category: Interior

Competitions: Home Competition [Now Closed]

My research project, ‘Rendition of Impermanence’, is a deeply personal exploration of grief, connection, and the transient nature of life. Through the meticulous process of creating lake pigments, I find solace and a way to honour the fleeting beauty of the natural world. Inspired by the memory of my late mother, who continues to be my greatest source of inspiration, I embarked on this research project to capture the essence and transience of plants and flowers in my local bio-region. By gathering and extracting their pigments, I aim to preserve their fleeting beauty in a tangible form. This process has become a way for me to mourn and accept my mother’s passing, and to explore the interconnectedness between humans and the natural world A flower’s life cycle, from a tender bud to a full bloom, and eventually to wilting and dying, is a natural representation of the passage of time. Over time, these pigments will fade or deteriorate, just as flowers eventually wilt and die. Each petal and leaf in my herbarium represent a moment in time, a moment of brilliance and radiance that will never be repeated. Through this act of preservation, I am reminded of the fleeting nature and the importance of capturing its essence before it fades away. Alongside each delicate specimen, I placed a small colour swatch measuring 3 x 5 cm, a testament to the hues that once graced these living organisms. The small, standardised size represents a kind of scientific objectivity in the presentation of artistic research. The theme of transience is closely tied to the small colour swatches in my herbarium and the same-sized wood panels. A series of small, fleeting moments or impressions. The small size could also be seen as a metaphor for the fleeting nature of life itself, with each colour representing a tiny fragment of a larger, transitory whole. https://issuu.com/yvonne_da_silva/docs/issuu_rendition_of_impermanence._research_document