Katherine Hymers
You and Me and Nothing
You and Me and Nothing offers a desire to challenge the idea of the gaze and question who is watching and who is being watched. Entering a darkened space the individual viewer sees only the body of a naked woman on a plinth in the middle of the room.
The passivity of the woman’s body creates a sense of vulnerability and discomfort, directly acknowledging the other individual presence, and puncturing the intimate atmosphere of the work as the body actively confronts the other presence. Returning the viewer’s gaze and turning the tables on who is watching and who is being watched, a space is opened up in which the gaze is allowed a sense of reciprocity. You and Me and Nothing continues Katherine’s use of the body, and its shift in position between object and subject, allowing a temporary exchange between artist and viewer, as well as heightening the intimacy through the gaze in the one to one situation.
Since graduating from Chelsea College of Art and Design in 2004, Katherine has continued to develop work across video, photography and performance. Katherine was selected for a bursary scheme in 2005 with the Babylon Gallery, Cambridgeshire, which culminated in her first solo show, Embodied Existence. She was a participant of the Franko B Mentoring Scheme in 2005/06. Recent group shows in which her work has been shown include Kettle’s Yard Open, East End Collaborations Platform and Artsadmin Summer Season. Katherine has a studio at Wysing Arts, Cambridgeshire.