As an artist, I think of the subject “Work” as if it were an object and I’ve picked it up and I’m looking at it from as many different angles as possible. I’m interested in the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How of work; the history of work, why we work, where we work, our identities forged through work, concepts of failure and success, worth and money, how artists ‘Work’ and how artists make ‘Work’. For me this is a fascinating subject because most of us work for the greater majority of our lives, so I want to understand it, to better understand us. For some of us it is a joy and for others it is a type of hell.
Census data is type of a litmus test of who we are and how we are doing as a nation. I want to bring a different metric to the table, an energetic one. I believe the question of ‘how are we FEELING as a nation?’ is an important one to investigate.
We can become stuck at the surface level of an individual’s occupation. We can be impressed or equally unimpressed, by the Noun, by the idea of the profession. Often this happens unconsciously due to a lifetime of social conditioning. I want to get beyond the surface level of what people do and show them in another light, literally.
Through All Auras Touch I want to visually express that we are our jobs and we are totally Not our jobs. I am an Artist, I am also a parent, a partner, friend, colleague, daughter and teacher AND in this moment, simultaneously, I am a luminous energetic being who exists in ways that I can’t quite comprehend. We all are multifaceted beings, with a range of complexities, hopes and dreams.
All Auras Touch is about making this duality visual.
– Kate Mitchell
Kate Mitchell: All Auras Touch
8 Jan – 1 Mar 2020
Open daily, 10am-6pm
All Summer 2020 exhibitions are free.
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