Katrina Palmer’s research uses words, histories and other found entities, in publications, live storytelling and elaborated audio environments. With a particular interest in an expanded conceptualisation of sculpture, she aims to use writing as a means of generating sculptural works. Here sculpture is interpreted as an activity, a way of thinking as opposed to any particular group of objects. By highlighting the role of words, in place of objects, the works typically refer to absence, often employing visceral descriptive language in an attempt to conjure physicality.

During her residency at Cove Park, Palmer will develop her project about a time travelling circus that forms the content of a new piece of writing for the Henry Moore Institute’s journal Essays on Sculpture. Her research began in 2015 during her Henry Moore Institute solo exhibition The Necropolitan Line and the residency will provide the time required to consider how this work can be materialised in a form that might inhabit an exhibition space.

Image: ‘The Fabricator’s Tale (Blood-Bespattered Table)’, 2016, mixed media installation with audio recording, installation view, Void, Derry, Ireland, photo: courtesy the artist