Fans of the Bermuda Biennial are likely familiar with Charlie Godet Thomas’s art. His work first went on display as part of the Bermuda National Gallery exhibit in 2008. This year look for two of his pieces: All the Words for Goodbye and A Shelter. As is typical of his work, they are “concerned with the connections between visual art and literature, the act of writing, the autobiographical, the tragic and the humorous”.

Q: When did you start on your art path?

A: I was always passionate about art and thankfully my parents were both creative and encouraged me to pursue that passion. I’ve had lots of fantastic tutors along the way, most notably Richard Wentworth and John Frankland who were my tutors at the Royal College of Art in London, where I studied my master’s degree. I also worked as archivist for artist Sir Isaac Julien for many years. Isaac inspired me to be ambitious and to remain focused on my work. Isaac and his partner, curator Mark Nash, have continued to support me throughout my career, for which I am very grateful.

Q: Does A Shelter refer to anything in particular? Was there a safe place you were thinking of while creating?

A: The card model for the work was designed to represent a generic shelter. It is purposefully simplistic and conjures an image of a house that might be drawn by a child, albeit more precise. At the time I had been thinking a lot about the notion of a shelter, in part after reading Henry David Thoreau’s essay of the same name, but also because at the time I was living in Mexico City where the extremes of weather are very pronounced.

Q: When did you create the piece? How long did it take?

A: I made the work whilst on residency at Casa Wabi on the coast of Oaxaca. Mexican curator Alberto Ríos de la Rosa kindly invited me to stay and work there for six weeks in 2023. The residency is housed in an incredible complex designed and built by Japanese architect Tadao Ando. The architecture itself focuses on blurring the lines between the inside and outside, areas of shade and light, sheltered spaces and areas open to the sky. I imagine that setting informed the work subconsciously. The work was quick to make, it is made of very basic materials, and the residency is geared towards experimentation rather than labouring over any single work.

Q: Was it part of a series?

A: There are a series of model scale structures that I have made, two of which were being exhibited at NASAL Gallery in Mexico City whilst I was on the residency. The most recent, titled Ash and Narrow Sky, was made shortly afterwards for an exhibition in London.

Q: Is this the first time you submitted to the Biennial?

A: I was included in the 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2020 and 2022 Biennial. I like to apply most years because it helps me to retain a dialogue with other artists and creatives in Bermuda, many of whom have become friends through the process of exhibiting in the Biennial.

Q: You split your time between Mexico and London. How does that work?

A: There are multiple reasons for that. I am represented in Mexico by a gallery called Colector, and until very recently I was also working with Vitrine Gallery who had galleries in Switzerland and London. I am restructuring things now, in part because after 14 years Vitrine has closed its doors. I am hoping to soon be in Bermuda permanently and travel out from there for projects – which I am really looking forward to.

Q: How would you describe A Shelter?

A: A Shelter is a playful work that brings together in a single image, different ideas of what a shelter might be. Perhaps it is as simple as a roof, or a hat; or are our bodies themselves shelters of a sort? What about our own imaginations and internal monologues, can they shelter us from the world? These are some of the questions and ideas that I had at the time of making the work.

Q: Based on your artist statement, your work pulls in a lot. Can you give examples of how you put it all together?

A: I’ve never been comfortable with the boundaries placed between creative disciplines, as such I prefer to work in the awkward spaces in-between wherever possible. If you take A Shelter for instance, the work is a wearable sculpture which was modelled by someone. It was then photographed and printed, written on/over and then scanned and reprinted for the exhibition. It is common in my practice for work to go through this kind of layered interdisciplinary process before its final, fully realised form. Humour plays less of a part in my practice now – that statement is a little out of date – but there is often an element of word play which can sometimes be funny or tongue-in-cheek.

Q: Do you exhibit regularly?

A: Generally speaking, I exhibit several times a year, which is split between commercial gallery shows, museum shows and commissions. I have exhibited in Bermuda several times, but only ever at the Bermuda National Gallery.

Q: Is that your head in A Shelter?

A: No, the person in the image is my friend and fellow artist Josué Mejía who was on the same residency as me at Casa Wabi. I doubt when I took the photo that he realised it would be blown up and exhibited.

• Thirty-two works by 25 artists are on display as part of the 2024 Bermuda Biennial at the Bermuda National Gallery, 17 Church Street 2nd Floor, City Hall & Arts Centre, until January. For more information, visit bng.bm/exhibition/2024bermudabiennial/. Learn more about Charlie Godet Thomas at charliegodetthomas.com or on Instagram @charlie_godet_thomas