Natalie Martin

My work explores the idea of urban decay and domestic neglect as sources of beauty and reverence expressed as acrylic on canvas paintings.
I have three key areas of interest: the idea of ‘journey’; through space and time; toward a destination or a spiritual awakening; as the traveller or the onlooker. The paintings’ examine how the space around us defines our movement by the recognition of the inert ‘watching’ structures that surround us:  the dark, neglected corners of domestic spaces; spaces that should be warm and comforting but that have fallen into disrepair; they appear more dangerous and less appealing than the outside world from which they should be sheltering us: architectural features that make a great contribution to the sense of a place despite their neglected state and immortalises them before they disappear into utter decay, redevelopment or modernisation.
With all these images I seek to re-examine the apparent banality of everyday architecture, invoke a celebration of the ordinary and to bring to light some of the unsung architectural heroes of our changing urban landscape.