Twisted
Paper/wood
Tortured garlands of black paper are massed in an uneasy cloud above the font of Chichester Cathedral. The tendrils seem ready to escape. It is brittle and friable, knotted and tangled – somehow alive but captured frozen mid-squirm. Its blackness seems threatening, and there’s an unease built into its structure. Twisted is about the anxiety caused by Covid. It manifests the experience of unease as a physical act.
The work was made by twisting paper in on itself, tighter and tighter, until it formed a chaotic mess. And then repeating this action over and over. This black paper was the only material that Kate had at home to make work with.The paper’s ephemeral nature reflects the worthlessness of the activity.
Kate McDonnell is a sculptor and installation artist, and her practice is informed by the symptoms and behaviours of mental illnesses.