Mona

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.

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.

Places

Subjects

Materials & Techniques

Artist

Manon Awst (1983 - )

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

Provenance

Purchased from the artist, March 2023

GAC number

19183