Embracing the Physical in a Digital Age
Third year Fine Arts student Belle Evans meets with me on a bright afternoon, her bubbly personality mirroring the sunlight that pours over us.
From the start, it becomes clear that Belle’s art is centred around connection — between the audience, the artwork, and the energy that binds us as humans.
“Working a lot with frequency, I’m interested in the connection between one’s mind and heart.”
Her practice is rooted in the physical, inviting viewers to engage with her pieces in person, far from the digital spaces we’ve become accustomed to.
Her recent piece, Chokurei, a tactile sculpture made from melted aluminum, embodies this focus. She collaborated with a music student friend to create a soundtrack set to 639 hertz. As the melted aluminum was cast into water, the vibrations shaped the droplets, physically manifesting the sound's frequency.
Belle’s art could be better described as spaces where people reconnect with their senses, away from the mental noise of daily life. Her choice of aluminum, an industrial, human-made material, serves as a metaphor for transformation.
“I go to the scrapyard and think, this has had a life before, let’s give it a new one.”
Through her process, the rigid material becomes fluid and alive.
This physical engagement extends to Belle’s own body. In her sculpture Embrace, she has imprinted a hug into a mold, later casting it in aluminum. Instead of involving another person, she chose to embrace herself in this piece. She calls it “an ode to myself — a hug from me to me, for everyone.” In this work, viewers are invited to interact with the pieces, feeling her energy and love as they handle each part.
Belle incorporated video and performance into the piece Embrace. Her friend hid the aluminum pieces in the hills of Mākara, Taranaki near where she grew up, and filmed Belle finding and reconnecting with them.
While the performance was shared digitally, the digital aspect served merely as a tool for sharing the experience, not as the artwork itself. The video showcased the physical interaction with the pieces, emphasising that her work remains grounded in the tangible world. The process showed her returning to her roots, acknowledging that everything she needs has already been instilled in her from her upbringing.
Belle’s work is an extension of her being. When viewers engage with her sculptures, they are connecting with Belle herself. The physical act of creating these pieces leaves a part of her within each one, turning the interaction into a dialogue between artist and audience.
Her sculptures aren’t meant to be passively viewed but physically experienced. The texture of the aluminum, the soft clinking sounds it makes, and the care she pours into each bead can only be fully appreciated in person.
When I visited her group exhibition, Three Rivers, her sculpture dominated the room, inviting interaction. I couldn’t resist touching the beads, feeling their rough and smooth surfaces. In that moment, I felt connected — not just to the artwork but to Belle herself.
The pieces are designed to engage the viewer’s senses. The scent of lavender, the tactile nature of the aluminum, the sounds created when touched — all these elements come together to create a multisensory experience that grounds you in the present moment.
Belle’s deep connection to energy and the world around her is rooted in her upbringing, saying her childhood was spent with “salty hair and bare feet”.
“My mum is a craniosacral energy therapist ... I grew up around energy, love, and the ocean.”
These themes profoundly influence her work. “Creating a space where I can feel safe comes through my hands.”
In a world dominated by digital interaction, Belle’s work demands to be experienced in person. Her art is not just meant to be looked at, but the art itself is meant to be felt.