OPENING LINES Anne McCarthy, guest speaker Dr Seamus McGuinness, exhibiting artist Katie Moore, artist Alice Maher and Gerry Moore at the opening of ‘Nothing was left to chance, everything was clinical’ on November 3. Pic: Conor McKeown
‘Nothing was left to chance, everything was clinical’, an exhibition of work by Katie Moore, a young and passionate visual artist, is running at the Custom House Studios, Westport, until November 27.
The exhibition consists of 36 hospital gowns made from hospital gauze, cotton thread and wire. “I have spent a lot of time in hospital isolation so therefore I used my experiences as subject for my work. I explored the notion of the false privacy in hospitals created by hospital curtains and gowns,” the artist, who has Cystic Fibrosis, explains. Why 36? It’s the number of people currently living with CF in Mayo.
Katie uses textiles, stitching and installation in addition to drawing and video to create visual experiences of the world. Her work is very conceptually driven, every stitch has a purpose. “The work I make comes from a feeling of being compelled to make it, giving the topic a voice, telling a story, an act of memory,” she says. “My work is very much about the process of what I am ‘doing’, giving each stitch a lot of consideration; they are there for a reason. The gauze is vulnerable and delicate, signifying how one feels when regularly in hospital.
“Nothing can be left to chance with my lifestyle as I have Cystic Fibrosis. I have to lead a very clinical life, one where I have to follow structure to ensure my well-being.”
The fabric of false privacy
