Katherine Blackburne photo by David Doobinin
KATHERINE BLACKBURNE
Katherine is a multi-faceted Australian artist working in NYC since 1999. Her practice spans the media of painting, video art, performance, writing, photography and dance. She is the creative Director for OBLIVION the proposed project at THEWILDPROJECT on the Lower East side NYC.
In my current work I find myself drawn to a dialogue with both Nature and landscape through an investigation of the ways in which forests offer both a metaphorical site for projection and literal location for socio-cultural imaginaries. I approach this through a question: How do we construct a vision of the other from the shadow of ourselves?
When I think about forests, I think about the long and often violent cultural histories attached to those lands. I also think about Nature, as it exists beyond our human intervention. In its sublime otherness, supposedly devoid of consciousness, Nature often appears strangely animated. I can only suggest that it is my consciousness that I project onto these vaulted forest ceilings. It is my mental pilgrimage into the wild. One might say that forests are a primary model for ‘Virtual Space.' This confluence of geography, personal narrative and cultural history elicits the sense that we are seeing an altogether different place. A place that is fluid and permeable and where temporality collapses.