Katherine Kneafsey
I am fascinated with the concept of connection. How people connect to one another, to nature, to society, to their vices, and so on. How deep these connections can go and all of a sudden they can mean nothing or can take over someone's life. Photography is my voice. It is how I express thoughts or feelings that I do not understand. I primarily work with a digital camera, but analog photography has been growing on me. When making photos, I focus on how forms relate to each other and how they interact. Through my self-portraits, I uncover how I understand my mother and her relationship with vices. How her connection to her vices overpowered her life and infiltrated mine. This bleeds into my art, my psyche, and my life. Feelings of anger, frustration, doubt, hope, acceptance, and loss, are all expressed within my art. Black and white photos enable the viewer to see only what is necessary and the emotions expressed have a deeper impact. In my work, I ask myself “why”. “Why am I attracted to this? Why do I like this style? Why is this important?”. If there is no final answer then I need to keep thinking. To be introspective is a part of self-portraiture, in that I will NEVER stop the “why”. The “why” leads to the connection, and back again. This is WHY the concept of connection needs to be investigated.
