Statement of PracticeKathryn Ashill uses touch within her practice in order to reconnect with people and site. The artist believes that a unique perspective is gained through these embodied encounters of a social and physical landscape. Ashill also aims to highlight the British reserve and the problems of personal space through her simple durational performances. Collaboration is a key element to the artists work as her performances focus around social interaction and interventions.
The performances are often in response to personal experiences, her understanding of a landscape and the people within that given environment. The artist has invited kissing, touching, hugging, squeezing, washing and holding to forge a bond with participants and the locality.
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Friend RequestYou are invited to confirm or ignore Kathryn’s friend request. In confirming the new friendship you will become physically linked to her. The artist is hoping to create an embodied, physical social network in response to her removed experiences of socialising on networking sites.
BiographyKathryn Ashill graduated from the BA Fine Art (Combined Media) at Swansea Metropolitan University in 2007 with first class honours. In view of her Tawe Performances 06-08 she was the recipient of the Mission Gallery’s Student Prize in 2007. Kathryn has collaborated with a variety of businesses and social groups (including a leech farm in Hendy, South Wales) to produce site specific performances. Her work often takes place in the public domain, busy city centres, rivers, workplaces, home. These live, public performances are documented through film and photography.
Kathryn recently created a new site specific performance for Milton Keynes Gallery, and has just returned from a residency CERBYD in which she was selected to travel Wales on a bus with 9 other Artist’s in the pursuit of new collaborations.
Ashill has recently been awarded an Arts Council of Wales grant to undertake a residency at Craig Y Nos Castle where the artist intends on creating a series of new site specific performances. The outcomes of this project will be exhibited in her first solo exhibition at Pontardawe Arts Centre in October 2010.
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