*1980 visual artist based in Waihōpai/Invercargill, NZ
Nela Fletcher’s body serves as the primary tool in her exploration of the spaces we inhabit: public, private, and internal. Often restrictive and prescriptive, these realms become her playground for defiance. She toys with, mimics, resists, blends, and interrogates constructed environments, capturing these explorations in photographs and film, which are stored as physical memories in her body. She retrieves and reinterprets these physical memories through her drawing practice, expanding her explorations into invisible and imaginative spaces and bodies. This process allows her to choreograph and speculate about the movement of internal matters.
Movement is a key element in Nela's biography. After fifteen years of working as a professional dancer, choreographer, and performer, she subsequently completed a Master of Arts in Fine Arts. This transition from dance to visual art has not only transformed her practice to include drawing, photography, and film, but also stretched her understanding of movement, bodies, and space.
education
2020 Master of Arts in Fine Arts, Zurich University of the Arts, CH
2018 Foundation Course, Zurich University of the Arts, CH
2000 Diploma in Dance, SBBS Zurich, CH
exhibition
2024 Parkin Drawing Prize | NZ Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington NZ
2023 same same but different | Art Attic Gallery, Invercargill NZ
2023 Aspiring Art Exhibition | Wānaka NZ
2022 Annual Spring Exhibition | He Waka Tuia, Invercargill NZ
2022 esk and us | site-specific community art project, Esk Street, Invercargill NZ
2021 ILT Art Awards | RAW Gallery, Invercargill NZ
2021 nine stars | video installation with Tim Fletcher, Murihiku Matariki Festival, NZ
2019 Artists invite artists | Salzhaus Brugg, CH
award
2024 Merit Award | Parkin Drawing Prize
2022 Second Prize 2022 Annual Spring Exhibition | He Waka Tuia, NZ
2021 Supreme Award | ILT Art Awards, NZ
2010 Prize awarded by the mediathek tanz.ch, CH
2008 Prize Prize awarded by the city of Zurich in the category of contemporary dance, CH
publication
2023 Art New Zealand | Issue 187 Spring 2023
2020 Dear Ambiguity (Un)Learning From the Virus | Master of Fine Arts ZHdK
2020 Swiss Art | number 122, issue 2020
artist in residence
2023 COIN South, Invercargill, NZ
2011 Tanz Tendenz & Schwere Reiter, Munich, DE
2010 Rote Fabrik Zurich, CH
commission
2023 dots | Southland Business Chamber, Invercargill, NZ
2021 Healthy Families Invercargill, Active Southland | illustrations, NZ
2020 Permanent window display | large-scale drawing, Praxis Zurlinde Zurich, CH
2017 Rondo Songbook | Illustration 2017 edition, CH
dance & performance
2012 WILD THING | for Laura Kalauz, Gessnerallee Zurich, CH
2012 Die Kopfstandinsel | for die Kulturtage Halbinsel Au, CH
2011 I Did Not Take the Pepsi Challenge... | for Cie. Kihossi, Roxy Basel, CH
2010 Gmoeffel | for Company Zwaergfaell, Theatre Stadelhofen Zurich, CH
2009 Not (t)here | for Daria Gusberti, Dampfzentrale Bern, CH
2008 Rote Asche | for Mischa Kaeser, Theatre Rigiblick Zurich, CH
2008 Rock and Roll ist hier zum stehn | for Kumpane, Rote Fabrik Zurich, CH
2008 Catulli Carmina | for Markus Gerber, Aarauer Vokalisten, KUK Aarau, CH
2007 Swiss & Sexy | for Oona Project, Gessnerallee Zurich, CH
2007 Patience Camp | for Thom Luz, Kaserne Basel CH, Theaterformen Hannover DE
2007 Friday Fishday | for Cie. Urto, Rote Fabrik Zurich, CH
2006 Did I shave my legs for that? | for Kumpane, Rote Fabrik Zurich, CH
2006 Ich wanderte... | for Tanztheater Fumi Matsuda, Tanzhaus Zurich, CH
2005 Mercy 45 | for Denise Lampart, Museum für Gestaltung Zurich, CH
2001 - 2005 Fixed company member | for Philipp Egli, Dance Company Theatre St.Gallen, CH
choreography
2014 Mein Herz ist ein Dealer | for Jonas Knecht, Gessnerallee Zurich, CH
2011 Das siebente Siegel | for Peter Kastenmüller, Theatre Basel, CH
2011 HYDE The Rock Opera | for Kollektiv MYDRIASIS, Tojo Theatre Bern, CH
2010 Vrenelis Gaertli | for Theaterkonstellationen, Theater Chur, CH
2010 autsch | for halsundbeinbruch, Tanzhaus Zurich, CH
2009 Kim Jong Il, Der ewige Sohn | for Manuel Buergin, FAX AN MAX, Kaserne Basel, CH
2009 chirp | for halsundbeinbruch, Tanzhaus Zurich CH and tour through Switzerland
2008 monototal | for halsundbeinbruch, Tanzhaus Zurich, Bern, Lausanne, CH
2006 verschroben | for 12Min.Max., Tanzhaus Zurich, CH