Dail Behennah

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Surface edge shadow 2022

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Dail is an artist with an interest in basketry and textile structures. Throughout her career she has been concerned with light and shadows, and the kinetic effect of light flickering through an openwork structure. Her degree in Geography has also led to an abiding interest in the structures beneath the surface of landscape.

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Her most recent work in paper uses a complex three dimensional, three directional plaiting technique. A detailed plan is drawn to determine how the paper will be cut into strips and then pleated before it is woven into the structure. The resulting highly textured surface reflects light and casts shadows, so that each piece looks different from every angle and changes with the movement of light throughout the day.  It is easy to become lost in the landscapes of mountains, ice floes and sand dunes that can be found within them.

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Dail finds the structure endlessly fascinating and as she works she sketches ideas for variations in the plaiting and changes of scale, so that each piece becomes the foundation for the next one.