Artist Statement 2019

Catherine Truman Artist Statement 2019

My practise is research-based and focuses on the parallels between craft processes and science research methodologies. 

 For many years now, I have had an avid interest in anatomy and have viewed the body as a rich and potent vehicle for the exploration of the personal and the political. Past works have centred on the question of how our individual knowledge of human anatomy is formed and communicated by both artists and scientists. 

 Having worked as an artist amongst scientists in research environments since the late 90s  I‘ve undertaken many cross-disciplinary projects. Since 2007I have cultivated important and unique relationships with the bio-medical researchers, scientists and educators within the specialised scientific environment of the School of Medicine at Flinders University and worked with students and staff in the practical anatomy classrooms, histology and neuroscience laboratories, the microscopy suite. The continuity of this exchange is special and rare and has been invaluable to the evolution of my practise.

These endeavours have been extraordinarily rich and continue to underpin all aspects of my concept development and material processes.

As an artist I have learnt that making things with my hands leaves me with much less of a sense of dislocation from the world I live in and this, I feel is an interesting premise from which to examine the world of science.

Currently I’m undertaking a project titled The Visible Light project : experiments in light and perception. The Visible Light Project is an ambitious creative project that draws together the disciplines of optometry, botany and art. 

Light, the absence of light, the transition of light, the processing and the observation of light will form the basis of my research and the creation of new work.

This is a 12-month project that begins with residencies in two distinct scientific environments, the Optometry and Imaging Clinics, Flinders University and the State Herbarium, Botanic Gardens of South Australia todraw some ‘creative' parallels between the physiology and structure of the human eye and plants and the ways both process light into energy.