Intricate sculpture from recycled materials

Tau Lewis creates intricate sculptural portraits and quilts out of found, gathered, gifted, and recycled materials from her personal environments in Toronto, New York, and Negril, Jamaica.

Tau Lewis was born in Toronto, Canada in 1993. She currently resides and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Lewis describes her artistic practice as "an upcycling of a circumstance," and she continues a long tradition of black cultural production by using found objects and reconfiguring them in the manner of a hip-hop or jazz musician.

Lewis, a self-taught artist, creates her works using time-consuming techniques such as hand-sewing, direct carving, and assemblage. "I hand-stitch everything," Lewis says of her methods. I enjoy sewing because it reminds me of when I was a child. Hand carved plaster pieces are used in the artwork. I'm curious about how I can honor and continue diasporic art-making practices that have been labor-intensive and heavily focused on recycling and burning their own energy into the object." Lewis uses reclaimed and discarded materials to create her distinct forms, engaging in a recuperative and regenerative practice.