Image courtesy of Jeffrey Smudde
Bio
Katy Rodden Walker is an interdisciplinary artist interested in exploring complex relationships and interconnectedness between humans and nonhumans, challenging perceptions of boundaries between humans and the environment at a micro and macro scale. She uses various materials to blur boundaries and create connections within space, and to illuminate what is largely unseen. Katy earned her BA in East Asian Studies with a minor in Japanese, from Bates College. She studied Japanese language and cultural studies through the Associated Kyoto Program at Doshisha University in Kyoto Japan, where she also studied ceramics after classes. She has her MFA from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
Images courtesy of Chris Diani
Statement
My work oscillates between macro and micro scales and explores complex relationships challenging perceptions of boundaries between humans and the environment. Postfeminist and rhizomatic theories, the ideas that everything comes from something before us, that there are multiple viewpoints and perspectives that should be encouraged, celebrated, and included, and that there is intrinsic value in all living creatures, humans, and nonhumans alike, are the core of my studio practice and how I conceptualize and create visual relationships in space. My work offers multiple connection points into a concept or an idea, is non-hierarchical, and is inclusive of various perspectives. I use diverse materials in making both object-oriented reflected forms, and experiential physical installation spaces to influence, attract, manipulate, and challenge the viewer. The lens, lighting, projection, and integrated technologies are used as a departure point to reflect upon the interdependencies between humans, technology, and the environment, illuminating the depth and complexity of interconnected systems that contribute to systemic growth and decay in an augmented and adaptive environment.