17 February - 7 March 2005
about the exhibition
Kati Thamo explores the role narrative has in our lives and in the construction of memories. Of Hungarian parentage, Kati draws on a rich vein of inherited stories to illustrate the way our memories are reconstructed from bits and pieces of fragmented stories. The title of this exhibition refers to a condition whereby gaps in memory are filled with imaginary experiences consistently believed to be true; “…I have created my own fanciful fabrications of the past, based on unreliable memories and skewed versions, as indeed all histories are.” These richly textural prints are achieved by way of collaging a variety of materials onto a cardboard base plate, a form of intaglio and relief printing. Fabric plays a large part in the work, patched or quilted backgrounds overlaid with a profusion of characters; “…a tapestry of interwoven voices stretching from Eastern Europe through to the Australian bush.”
A graduate of both Edith Cowan University, WA, and the University of Tasmania (Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours), Kati has lectured in Visual Art at Great Southern Regional College, Albany, WA, and in Printmaking at Edith Cowan University, WA. She has been the recipient of many awards, most recently the 2003 Major Open Award at the Western Australian Printmedia Awards, and the Gallery 500 Award at the Albany Art Prize in 2004. In 2000 Kati was a finalist in the prestigious Silk Cut Award. The artist has been involved in over twenty group exhibitions and has held four solo exhibitions. Her work is represented in public collections Australia-wide.
