Katherine Akey
Love Is Sweet
Inkjet print collage
14 x 14 inches
2020
Katherine Akey
Forget Me Not When Far Away
Inkjet print collage
14 x 14 inches
2020
This series of collages entitled Whaler's Valentines are inspired by the sailor's
valentines often found in whaling towns in New England. I have made valentines
from my images of the arctic landscape and seascape, where whalers of the 18th
and 19th century would have spent much of their lives. Rather than the showy
seashells of Bermuda, there is ice and rock and silence and the stunning, subtle
colors of the high north. Each piece is named using a phrase found written into
an original sailor's valentine: i think of thee when i gaze at the sea; forget
me not when far away; ever thine; love came here and never left.
Love came here and never left is about the experiences of lovers separated by
the arctic -- including those of whalers, explorers, and my own self. I had no
ability to communicate with my partner for the duration of my time living aboard
a sailing vessel in the high arctic in 2015 -- an incredible amount of
disconnectivity in the 21st century. The project is made of two groups of work:
a group of collages called Whaler's Valentines and a multichannel video piece,
love came here and never left (this the closest I'll come to touching you the
way I want). The work lives in the liminal space between personal experience,
historical narratives, and storytelling, and is, fundamentally, a musing on
romantic love and longing.
Katherine Akey
German Salient 27 May 1916 (Sugar Blues)
Linen, logwood, linen thread, cotton bating
54 x 66 inches
2021
Katherine Akey
Langemark 3 January 1918 (Sugar Blues)
Linen, logwood, linen thread, cotton bating
37 x 41 inches
2021
Sugar Blues is a series of quilted fiber pieces drawn from aerial reconnaissance
photographs from WWI. The pieces are produced using: an Irish linen, the same
used to create the wings of WWI-era planes; logwood dye, the same used to create
the blue sugar-bag paper common in the 19th and very early 20th century; linen
thread and many hours of sewing by hand. This project was inspired by a story
of wartime innovation from an officer in the Royal Flying Corps, whose commanding
officer came up with a strategy to help his night bombing squadron navigate the
inky dark of a pre-electrified Europe.
_750.jpg "Witness Marks (Jack Wilkinson)")
Katherine Akey
Witness Marks (Jack Wilkinson)
filter paper
19 x 23 inches
2020
detail750.jpg "Witness Marks (Jack Wilkinson) detail")
Katherine Akey
Witness Marks (Jack Wilkinson) detail
filter paper
19 x 23 inches
2020
Witness Marks is an exploration of the words of soldiers and civilians, from
all levels of command and all combatants, that experienced the conflict of
World War One. These pieces are produced using the archaeological archival
tool of the epigraphic squeeze, a technique for making archival copies of
inscriptions in the field. Some archaeological squeezes made in the early
20th century outlived the carvings they were made from initially. My squeezes
are a nod to these archives that live on beyond their original partners and
an attempt to preserve the first person experiences of a conflict that has
fallen out of living memory. No memorials to the conflict were inscribed with
the everyday observations of soldiers on the ground; instead they often speak
to glory, to sacrifice. By producing an epigraphic archive of inscriptions
from non-existent or perhaps imagined memorials that could have or ought to
have been made, I can bring some attention to the quotidian of war, to the
daily experiences that can be overshadowed by the mythologizing of war that
is particularly common in regards to WW1. The work is a commentary on
memorials as well, whose function fluctuates from a site of mourning to a
site of memorializing, eventually to a place of commemoration and then, in
enough time, a totem to a forgotten event.
Katherine Akey - Artist
ARTIST STATEMENT
Through photography, printmaking, fiber art, and writing my work focuses on
the transformation of human experience, especially that of trauma and conflict.
Much of this is an exploration of the change of experience from history to
myth, from mourning to commemorating. But I always try to do this exploration
through the experiences of individuals. Antoine de Saint-Exupery wrote that
when a man dies an unknown world dies with him; photographic archives as well
as personal histories, these are what is left when that unknown world
disappears, these are where we can connect to the humanity of the past,
these are where I excavate. My childhood was spent climbing through
archaeological sites with my parents; their academic practice is the
foundation of how I make sense of the world, dusty sites and overflowing
vitrines that fill my memory. Now as an artist I explore history with my
own archaeological tools, seeking the marks of individuals as they transform
and fade with time.
ARTIST BIO
Katherine Akey is an artist based in San Francisco, CA. Her work addresses
adventure, conflict, and the negative space in personal and collective memory
with a focus on polar exploration and the First World War. Her practice
includes photography, printmaking, fiber arts, and creative writing. She has
an MFA from the International Center of Photography, was a Fellow with the
Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, and teaches photography
and art theory.
Katherine Akey
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