Natasha stood up wearily. She’d been working inside her studio all day, and she needed to go outside to spray-paint the background of her latest piece, one that she had planned to spend eight days on, taking her time to get it just right.
Only, the exhibition at Riverside Studios was in three days’ time, and she couldn’t afford to waste a single second. But she looked forward to painting outdoors for a while, to clear her mind. Spray-painting indoors, of course, was impossible because of the fumes.
She opened the door. It was early 2022, and a blast of cold air immediately hit her face, and the weak evening sun told her all she needed to know about the natural light she could expect.
Three days and one night. Those words sound better in a travel brochure than when describing a mad dash to finish a large painting. Given the cramped side entrance outside where the piece was spray-painted, the demanding deadlines, and the harsh weather conditions in which Free Spirit was birthed, one might expect it to be a gloomy, dark, dreary examination of the depths of the human experience.
In reality, Free Spirit depicts a female figure executing an ecstatic pose, back arched, face uplifted to the blue sky filled with unworried clouds. After you spend a few minutes admiring the ethereal grace of the Free Spirit, you look closer, and you see that the outline is made up of a kaleidoscope of tiny butterflies. Looking at Free Spirit makes your soul soar, and it is remarkable that it was born out of a concoction of difficult constraints.
Natasha’s Journey as an Artist
Art has always been a part of Natasha’s life. She was only five when she started classical piano lessons, and went on to study classical music formally at University. In subsequent years, she became an accomplished piano player, and taught herself to play the guitar, to sing, and to produce music tracks. For years, she made a living as a teacher of music, and as a live performer.
But the artist in Natasha kept manifesting itself in new and exciting ways. After dabbling with paint for many years, she turned a global negative into a positive during the pandemic, when she started creating large scale paintings and street art.
Natasha’s visual art career, born as it was during the chaos and uncertainty of lockdowns and the pandemic, had an unbelievably fast growth trajectory. A few months into her painting career, she submitted one of her first pieces to an art competition, and won a prize! From that point, she went from strength to strength; Free Spirit enjoyed both critical and commercial success, being listed by the Art Hound Gallery, and then chosen for the Curated Display at the 2022 Affordable Art Fair from among hundreds of other paintings, where it eventually sold.
In addition to her success as a musician and visual artist, Natasha is also an accomplished creator of street art. Her camera seeks out those elements of nature that speak most deeply to her soul: she noticed a particularly unique configuration of clouds one day, and turned the photograph she took of it into the cover for Stress Free .
Natasha’s street art brings beauty to nooks and crannies of London that need it more than any other. Her spray-paint art is an extension of herself and of all her influences; in its essence, it includes all the themes that she loves the most.
As a young child, Natasha loved the surreal: reading Alice in Wonderland from cover to cover, and watching spellbound as Disney’s Dumbo showed her the first psychedelic animation scene she was ever to experience. She also feels a deep connection to nature, one that was only strengthened by the fact that she has always lived in the urban megalopolis that is London. As she grew, she combined her love for nature with her affinity for the surreal to imbue all her artistic creations with her very own imprint.
Flowers
Flowers was released in 2020. On every listen, different aspects of this song reveal themselves to you, like petals of a flower, that slowly unfold themselves to the revel in the embrace of the sun’s rays. Like the birdsong that pervades the rich aural background. Or the simple, yet effective piano motif that stays with you and makes your brain sing. Or the infectiously catchy bass line. Or the emotion in Natasha’s voice – always light, always soothing, but transporting you to a world of serenity. Her voice brings with it the best qualities of a summer’s day in a meadow: the verses showcase the impressive range of her lower-pitched vocals, while the chorus positively soars, as she croons the words “seasons change, they come and they go”.
The song is one that has deep personal importance for Natasha. The lyrics – and the concept for the whole track – are a tribute to her mother who passed away aged 60, taken too early by cancer. Natasha’s mother loved flowers and gardening, and those things inspired the song. She did not want to make it sad, because her mother had always been an optimistic, happy person. Therefore, even though Flowers contains Natasha’s emotions and reflections on her mother’s passing, it is still cheerful and upbeat.
The cover art for Flowers continues a recurring theme in Natasha’s work: the introduction of colourful, soft, cheerful elements to environments that are the exact opposite: hard, unyielding, and gritty. It pays tribute to her love of street art, and is set against a backdrop of stone: innumerable bricks making up a wall. On the wall, however, Natasha has spray-painted two magnificent hibiscus flowers blooming merrily, in defiance of the convention that decrees that very little grows amidst stone. A hummingbird bends its beak to sip the flowers’ nectar; a bird with a halo, that speaks again to Natasha’s love of the sky and the clouds and the free air.
There is powerful symbolism at work in the cover art, as well. The hummingbird is the national bird of Jamaica, and Natasha’s mother was Jamaican. The halo over the bird’s head signifies that she has crossed over to the other side, and that she is in Heaven.
This upbeat R&B track, tinged with the rich symbolism of contemporary soul, helps you dream with your eyes open. Dreams of sitting in the sun, dreams of looking at flowers from the point of view of the freest of free birds, dreams of the world from the point of view of a flower. The production helps to immerse you in the world of Flowers ; for 3 minutes and 48 seconds, you are spellbound as all the audio elements of the song work together to create one cohesive whole.
You cannot fail to smile as you listen to Flowers .
Stress Free
Stress Free starts with an upbeat synth motif, one that makes you want to dance right away, like the foot-tapping rhythms of the 80s. The verses employ layered vocals in the best neo-soul traditions, before one of the most unique choruses we have ever heard, one that invites you “to put your hands in the air, because you’re Stress Free”.
The cover art for Stress Free is based on a photograph taken by Natasha herself. It is simple yet powerful, with a single unique cloud formation silhouetted against the bluest of blue skies. Like with all clouds captured at exactly the right moment, your mind can conjure up stories about the formation. Is it a unicorn with its face upturned to heaven? Cotton wool surrendering to the moment and moving slowly along with the breeze?
Natasha loves clouds; she loves to daydream as she watches them move gently and change shape. A calm sky always feels peaceful to her.
Stress Free will transport you to every enjoyable Sunday ever. As you listen to it, imagine yourself enjoying animated afternoon discussions, tapping your feet to the rhythm, between green earth and blue sky, with loved ones nearby.
Wandering Soul
Wandering Soul is the counterpart to Free Spirit . It depicts a male figure made up entirely of butterflies. Both paintings show their subjects in attitudes of athletic grace and total liberation, and Natasha’s clouds and blue skies accentuate the Wandering Soul and the Free Spirit.
Natasha would like to thank…
Every single person who has helped her along her journey in any way, and every single organisation that has offered support. She is especially grateful to James Hogan at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Nature for assisting her with her extensive research on butterflies, which play such an important role in her work.
She is eternally grateful to everyone that supports her art and music in whichever way, big or small. It means everything to her.
Links
Natasha’s Website: https://www.natasha-awuku.com/.
Instagram Art Page: https://www.instagram.com/natasha_awuku/.
Instagram Music Page: https://www.instagram.com/natasha_awuku_music/.