Katherine Horn

Artist Catalogue

Virtual Exhibition

"Holding"

In this body of work I explore the concept of holding and its capacity for healing. I have sought to offer comfort and safety by making the viewer feel held and cared for. I have used processes of binding, covering and transforming to work towards holding traumas that are too unpleasant to hold. My focus on holding also originates from the chronic pain in my hands which physically prevents me from holding anything. My hands, however, are able to hold abstractions; the trauma and anxiety which causes their pain, the emotions which I channel through my fingers to make art.

My work focuses on tactile experiences, using soft sculptures and textiles to stimulate feelings of nurturing and empathy for women who experience pain, anxiety and insomnia. The two most notable mediums in my work are embroidery and screen printing. My embroidery calls for security as it is historically associated with domesticity and has been a safe place for feminine expression. It is employed intuitively, allowing for a preverbal, bodily expression of unspoken or silenced traumas. My printing further explores self-expression as a tool for healing. Screen printing emulates the ways in which hidden facts or traumas leak out of one’s subconscious when dreaming, yet I reclaim emotional agency through predetermined, voluntary and controlled expression.