Catriona Faulkner is an artist whose practice explores themes of pain, ritual, and devotion on critical, aesthetic, and personal levels. Utilising assemblage and hand-stitch techniques, she articulates and examines her own experiences living with chronic pain and related health challenges following an accident.
At first glance, Catriona’s work may appear deceptively comfortable and appealing, enticing viewers with its opulence and intrigue. However, a deeper exploration of her material language and underlying narratives reveals a personal world that confronts chronic pain and obsession. The concept of ritual plays a significant role in her work, where the act of creation itself becomes a form of devotion and healing. Catriona embodies an obsessive and all-consuming process of collection, selection, and creation, interwoven with symbolic references and metaphors.
Her practice is grounded in an ethos of repurposing found objects of intrinsic interest, gathering and collecting remnants of everyday life. By recontextualising these unassuming treasures, she discovers beauty within them, painstakingly infusing life into these inanimate objects. Catriona’s careful selection and use of materials evoke a sense of familiarity and recognition, yet they are redefined and presented in a new context. The objects assume new roles, embodying a hybrid identity that is both familiar and transformed through their arrangement, selection, and relationships.
This selection process is not arbitrary; it reflects her desire to reclaim and celebrate the overlooked and discarded. Throughout her work, Catriona embeds a fundamental inquiry into why and how objects gain value and resonate within our memories across cultures and beliefs. Her practice aligns with broader themes of sustainability and environmental consciousness, as it promotes a dialogue about the potential of reimagining what already exists rather than creating anew.
By transforming these objects she challenges the viewers perceptions of value and beauty, encouraging a reconsideration of what is worthy of attention and care. In doing so, she emphasises the importance of recognising the beauty in fragility and imperfection – qualities that resonate deeply with her own experiences.
