The Library

For Natal, a vital part of every project is the creation of The Library. The Library is where she lifts the veil on her artistic practice, sharing her sources as she sought inspiration from diverse knowledge systems, permitting her work to cross a wide variety of disciplines. The Library also includes her collaborators’ works, as she came to know each of the participants in every project.

The Library, in addition to the books. films, articles, magazines, and web-based sources, includes art, artifacts, and music she acquired on her extensive and repeated journeys. These invite a deeper understanding of the breadth and depth of the cultural life throughout the regions that each project focuses on and also profoundly inspired and influenced her work.

Natal insists that The Library be exhibited equally with the other components of each project: images, video, sculpture, etc., and that the exhibition provides a space for viewers that invites them to browse, sit, and explore the Library. This not only encourages her viewers to slow down, but to delve a little deeper into the complex subjects her work encompasses. Natal’s hope is that each viewer will find their own sources of inspiration, interests or entry points into the environment concerns that drive her work and shapes each project. She often donates each project’s Library to institutions, organizations and communities that host each project.