Katrina Coombs
St Andrew, Jamaica
August 1 - 28, 2019
In partnership with Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator
Artist Statement
Katrina Coombs was born in St Andrew, Jamaica. She has a MFA in Creative Practice from Transart Institute via The University of Plymouth. Coombs has a passion for fiber and an understanding of the sensitivity of threads and fabric which has grown beyond design and into sculptural forms. Her practice focuses on the impact of the Other on the “I” and the quintessence of gender politics of the Other. She weaves and stitches fibers and textiles into tactile and sometimes large-scale sculptural forms, engaging the sometimes ambivalent and stigmatizing ways society engages the female persona. Coombs’s current works are an exploration into the notion of the woman’s body as a form of carriage, and how the womb becomes an unspoken voice of an Other for women’s existence and identity. She explores forms of intrusion in the constructed space and psychological space of fibrous vessels, similarly to the emotional intrusion of an Other, whether it be internal or external to the body; creating a sense of presence, absence and longing within. Coombs's work has been featured in exhibitions such as; “Young Talent 2015” at the National Gallery of Jamaica, “Re-Frame Manila”, 2016 London Biennale Pollination art project in the Philippines, the “Jamaica Biennial” in 2014 and 2017 at the National Gallery of Jamaica, and, “Voyaging Towards The Future: Living Sculpture III” ICE 2018, CAG[e] Gallery, Jamaica. Coombs is also one of the co-founders of the art initiative Blaqmango Consultants, aimed at re-energizing the Jamaican art scene through exhibitions, residencies, artist career planning and the development of young upcoming artists. She was the recipient of the 2018 Davidoffe Art Initiative Residency at FLORA arts+natura Bogota and the 2019 G.E.M. artist residency in New York. She lives and works in St. Andrew, Jamaica.
Artist Links
Website: https://katrinacoombs.wordpress.com/