My work is a means to reveal the private experiences of time and space, building a tableau vivant.

The scenes I create use the formal qualities of the room to build a structure that contain the narratives of human relationships and the spirit of ordinary life through quiet gestures and symbols of the everyday that hold personal significance and offer clues about meanings. I record memories, rituals and moments that play a vital role in our lives and ultimately reflect who we are. Guided by these, I create new narratives that move between reality and fiction. The seen and the unseen, the fleeting moments that are charged with intensity. Living together but also alone. In the words of symbolist poet Stephane Mallerme

“To depict not the thing, but the effect it produces”.

I create my own archive using a set of data gathering exercises which are inspired by ‘Mass Observation’. I record memories using photographs, drawings and written quotes. This way of working allows me to delve into collected memories and create new scenes that blur the boundaries of fiction and reality.

In 2019 I opened The Lemonade Press, a lithography studio in Bristol.

 

“How wonderful, how very wonderful the operations of time and the changes of the human mind.”

Jane Austen.

 

My work can be viewed here.

Also, a selection of my work is available here:

etsy.com/uk/shop/CatherineAde