ILLUSTRATED WORK BIOGRAPHY
Whilst in art school Fernandez realised that an essential precondition for the creation of a work of art is the possibility of an environment of freedom, which in her case translated as getting rid of the stretcher in her paintings. The making of sculpturical structures followed in order to hang the canvases. This process of hanging canvases from complex structures, inspired her early sculptures or relieves also about the urban landscape, which she refers as her Concrete Paintings.
During her art school years, Fernandez developed the habit of working with painting and sculpture at the same time. This method of working inspired the Sought After Mural (SAM) concept: a life time of work lined up, that can be positioned differently at any time that is to be shown. Fernandez talks of her work during this time as '… a reflection of the skyline of my city as viewed from a car window'. Each mural, painting and sculpture, comprises work made individually but during a specific period of time, and once hung it is left to chance to make them work as newly formed unit, allowing the emergence of an unique hermeneutic, thus bringing on the concept of 'installative painting or sculpture'.
At that stage there was also some sewing involved in her painting, sewing being sometimes the painter's answer to the sculptor's welding. This sewing or stitching became even more prominent when she moved to Spain for a year (1997-98) as the Plastic Drawings came to life. With time, the stitching became embroidery of sorts, evolving as a technique on its own right in the mixed media "Embroidery" Paintings.
During her time in Spain, Fernandez decided that she should allow herself to be driven by the strategy of need and the power of transformation, finding by chance what to transform, rather than looking for it. By developing this working methodology, Fernandez aimed to create, whatever the circumstances. Fernandez frequently talks of her biggest fear, that of stagnation. She doesn't advocate mindless manufacturing of objects, but constant engagement with her artistic practice by 'doing'. The SAM concept stood by, as seen in the Plastic Drawings.
Fernandez moved to England in 1998 on her way to Berlin. She never arrived in Germany, going instead to live in the countryside. After a while, she started gathering photographs from the press and soon was developing a new work methodology a starting a very productive period. These images were mostly from newspapers sports sections, since they were very abundant in her house. Some of these images had a certain epic quality that reminded her of Paolo Uccello's battle scenes. Fernandez was then soon creating a Sport Series of paintings, drawings and sculptures, and subsequent linked series, such as Feathermen. Also, during this time she taught herself to carve wood inspired a great deal by the availability of timber, but also by Ana Maria Pacheco's installation DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL shown in the National Gallery in 1999.
With her new methodology firmly in place, in which press photographs play a crucial role, 
she moved to London in 2003 when she was awarded a solo show in the 198 Gallery.
The press continuously supplies a great deal of given images that catches Fernandez' eye. She sees in these given material, somebody else's contribution, formal elements that she can transform. Is not necessary the child or the face in the photo or its supposed emotional value what gets Fernandez attention. It's the formal qualities of a specific element of the given image, or its possibilities, the implied de-construction. Or maybe, it's the eluding meaning, the possible resonance of that particular element on the collective subconscious… Or is the possibilities to join disparate elements, from different origins, different photos, that once put together in a common surface, create a unique hermeneutic. The Sought-After Mural concept still prevails.
Early on in the Iraq Invasion, they found Udai Hussein's emaciated man-eater tiger.
It looked defiant and its image kick started a series of whimsical drawings.That same image inspired another series of paintings under the title 'High Street Tiger Hunting'. From the same time, the early days of the invasion, comes an image of a British charging soldier, that even today continues to feed an ongoing series on soldiers, camouflage and weaponry.
Painting and sculpture usually happen at the same time in Fernandez studio, yet in the last years drawing has taken a very importantrole in her practice. Photos of the victims of the London Bombings,unflattering as they were, taken from IDs cards or family snaps, inspired 'I Couldn'tKiss You Good Bye, I Couldn't Tell You I Love You',a large format drawing. Other contemporary drawings are based on the press also, such as the Beslan tragedy series.
In 2006 she organized and curated ‘Notions of Drawing’ which was a very well received show. Fernandez aimed to make a prize or an annual event of it. Yet from then on she incorporated drawing more and more into her creative process, but developing very large formats such as ‘Human Landscapes’. In these drawings becomes apparent the exploration of the relationship between the macro and the micro-landscape. The Human Landscapes continue the exploration of drawing as large format,that first appear with the charging soldier from Iraq, or the drawing of the victims of the London bombings. Drawing in general, is what Fernandez calls a freedom tool, a liberating strategy that allows her to travel from diverse techniques while keeping a binding connection among them.
Fernandez extended drawing to timber, as in ‘Feathers, Fur, Veins and ...’: timber becomes support for the line, drawingaway from the figure while embracing mere suggestions. In most recent sculptural pieces, the timber also supports the line as in 'Feathers...' but the line also covers it, as wool thread binds what is not loose, or hair covers previously carved pieces.
As a result of the prominence of drawing in recent years, Fernandez has taken to exercise colour restrictionin her painting.
The paintings from the Sports series are all jewel-like colourful, and Fernandez always talks about the apparent ease she has with colours and her past tendency to use too many in one work. Fernandez first limited her range for one series, ‘Silas and Wife’. Based on an image from Time magazine, of a trimmed, conservative and somehow oppressive black catholic couple, the original image was perfectly balanced and with a dominating pale yellow palette. Fernandez deconstructed it and proceeded to practice restriction: working with the bare minimum, like a drawing.
As exercises go, this colour restriction proved very useful for her practice. For instance, it binds together, asleast colour-wise, painting, drawing and sculpture. But also forced her to work in her following paintings more with tones and degradations, extracting effectively more from a limited range of colours. The Camouflage series, part of the soldier series, are full of textures and balanced colours, from the first Camouflages to the most recent installative painting 'With Many Thanks to John Moore and Acquaintances'
ILLUSTRATED WORK BIOGRAPHY
Based on a conference given in the Ben Uri Gallery, London 2005