In a Room is a conversation series where we ask our friends to share their favourite domestic spaces. This week we’re joined by artist KATE BANAZI.
Kate's work celebrates relationships, the body in space, movement, shadows and colour. Interlocking shapes are held together lightly but always ready to fall apart. Negative space and line work map chaos, voids and beauty.
Repetition, ritual, science and colour theory hold great interest and are often referenced in her work with elements exploring her own mixed heritage and familial ties.
For many years she has been exploring the themes of beauty and who dictates what its definition. Interpreting this to a raw and honest embrace of the flaws in the silkscreen - the silkscreens are un-retouched, pinholes and marks which normally would be repaired are accepted and celebrated contrary to the idea of printmaking as a facsimile process, utilising it as a painting medium creating one of a kind pieces rather than editions.
Kate's new show, Back, Hips, Bones and Lips opens 21st August Curatorial&Co, William St, Woolloomooloo.
Which room are you in today?
In my studio finishing off the works for my solo show. I love this space. It oscillates between a hive of activity and a calming contemplative space. All my studios have very much been an extension of home and a creative nurturing environment.
Which room is the most active in your house?
The kitchen/living space is where there’s usually the most happening. It opens out to a backyard so when it’s sunny or warm that becomes an extension of our living space. It’s a really multi-functional space which makes sense for the way we live and socialise.
Which room gets the least amount of use?
We utilise the whole space really well and quite evenly. It’s the longest I've ever lived anywhere so it really feels like home.
Which is your work-from-home room of choice?
We have a desk on an enclosed balcony at the back of the house that looks out right into the neighbours trees, which is magical. I can be working and look up to be facing a possum or a kookaburra and the sound of the branches and leaves is musical.
What for you defines a great room?
A great room can be defined by aesthetics but I am always more interested in the collections and eclectic quirky things assembled by the occupants: the books, the music, and the art that live there.
What is your personal favourite type of room?
My favourite type of room would always be a garden. Gardens fulfil so many of my needs and is the most nurturing space. I dream of having a luxurious big garden full of wildlife, like the one at Sissinghurst Castle, or the garden of the brilliant Derek Jarman in Dungeness that is wild and unfenced.
Tell us about your all-time favourite room.
I have multiple rooms that would compete for a favourite and they’re all kitchens. These have always provided the spaces for special events or great memories throughout my life with friends and family whom I love.
Derek Jarman's "Prospect Cottage" Garden in Dungeness, Kent.
Sissinghurst Castle Garden
