Zadie Xa

Welcome to Episode 16 of Pattern Portraits!

Lauren Godfrey chats with artist Zadie Xa, about alchemy and conjuring through pattern, oddness over evenness and Korean Folklore.

Zadie Xa is an artist working across painting, sculpture and performance with recent presentations at Thaddeus Ropac in Paris, Hauser and Wirth in LA and The Whitechapel Gallery in London. Originally from Vancouver, Canada, Zadie explores notions of homeland and diaspora through the metaphor of water and interspecies communication. Zadie has an MA in painting from The Royal College of Art and a BFA from The Emily Carr Institute of Design in Vancouver.

Her work often takes the form of textile constructions resembling garments or kimonos, heavily worked with quilting, appliqué and complex structural elements featuring recurring motifs such as the conch shell, the Yin Yang symbol, knives and kimchi. Performances have featured huge Orca whales and costumes sewn from bleach dyed denim in aqueous patterns of undulating water.

I am totally entranced by Zadie’s work and the way that pattern weaves its way into every element whether it’s a vast patchwork shelter, housing delicately rendered paintings or a gown hanging from the ceiling, poised with a pair of platform shoes resembling cabbages.

Zadie has chosen a vibrant patchwork of patterns including a Korean Bojagi wrapping (date unknown), Sonia Delaunay’s ‘Simultaneous Dress’ from 1913, a pattern of her own - Kimchi Rites and Kitchen Rituals, 2022, a Christopher Kane flower stamped dress from Spring/Summer 2012 and a Mori Yuzan wave drawing circa 1903.

You can see all of Zadie’s patterns and more on instagram @patternportraitspodcast

‘Magic Motif’ - The PATTERN PORTRAIT print artwork to accompany Zadie’s interview and featuring the patterns we discuss is available to buy now at www.laurengodfrey.co.uk

Image of Zadie Xa by Benedict Johnson

References:

Gee’s Bend Quilt Makers

Legacy Russell

The New Bend Exhibition at Hauser and Wirth

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