Below are 2 artist statements... choose your fighter
STATEMENT FROM THE HEART
Since taking up a professional arts practice in 2021 and stepping away from healthcare, I have developed a strong relationship between my inner and outer world; my creative practice is a connecting of the dots. Using figurative surrealism I make mostly oil paintings and also works in textile, installation, sculpture and audio. I'm deeply inspired by my studies in health sciences and experience of working in a public hospital, where my work reflects personal challenges, curiosities and discoveries about myself, others and the nature of life on Earth.
As I navigate a complex world, which I believe is all about learning, my work expressive my introspective processes and self-realisation. The exploration of, and the connection to my body and it's sensations is fundamental to this process of knowing myself, which grows my compassion and capacity to know someone else...a pillar of interdependent and resilient communities. I therefore use surrealism, body-language and abstraction of the human form to symbolise our capacity to know and feel ourselves inwardly. My practice champions the human body as the greatest teacher and tool and I often consider how feelings or experiences might manifest in our body-language and our engagement with others and our environment. In my paintings I like to create rooms (using windows, steps and doors) or simply blank spaces, to house the figures and represent mental and spiritual qualities like openness, isolation and opportunity.
I strongly believe that true health and wellbeing can be achieved when it is built on a foundation of self-connection, self-understanding and a willingness to challenge conditioned and traditional belief systems that influence our capacity to learn, heal and grow. Whilst my creatives intentions are always shifting as I shift, I'm lead by a desire to inspire connection to self and to empower folk to listen to their own inner intelligence which can be accessed at any time, in any place, through the body.
ART-WANK STATEMENT
The journey of South African-born artist Caitlin Mohr (b. 1999) is rooted in her experiences of deep connection and disconnection, within herself, with humanity, with Earth and beyond. Practicing in South Australia (Adelaide/Tarndanya), Möhr’s diverse practice is anchored in oil painting and extends to textile-based work, audio, sculpture and written word — a testament to her ability to create a mental and emotional presence, stimulating and engaging our imagination. Her colour palette is unhinged and highly-saturated, her composition perplexing, her use of symbolism and metaphor unrestricted and her warping of bodies intriguing. Moving outside of traditional representation and bringing to life the human being, human experience and human figure, Möhr’s surreal figuration and sometimes abstract contemporary work champions our innate ability to be flexible, to stretch and change, to close and open, to resist and accept, to grow and let go, to know and not know. Using her own body, beliefs and experiences as a reference, Möhr explores the relationship between mind and body, self-expression and self-awareness, and our capacity to connect with the invisible.
Mohr has a visual vocabulary that shouts the discomfort and power of the psyche and body, by exploiting body language and facial expressions which act as metaphors for our behaviour, belief systems, conditioning, desires, ego and purpose. Her work is a personal connecting of the dots where the message of each idea and concept is largely meditated upon and deeply interwoven (somewhat chaotically) into all her lessons learnt. She has no fear of telling us what to think and how to feel, as considers her work as a personal dance between ego and intuition, between controlling and allowing. Möhr honours her creative practice as a spiritual one, where every step is considered an opportunity to know herself/oneself more wholly where identity and personal narratives can known and rewritten. With this philosophy at her core, Möhr stimulates our imagination and offers profound insight into the mystical phenomena of connection to self, others, Earth and beyond. Politely disturbing us, Möhr’s practice probes the tension between our inner and outer worlds, challenging us to question who were are intuitively and physically, and what our place is in the world.
In 2021 Möhr discontinued her studies in physical therapy to focus on her art practice, gaining mentorship from internationally recognised artist Solomon Kammer (rep. Ames Yavuz). In 2022 Möhr debuted her solo exhibition ‘An Introspective Journey’ at artist-run space Collective Haunt Inc., Norwood SA. In 2024 Möhr held her second solo exhibition ‘Deep Loner’ at commercial gallery Praxis Artspace, which was the only South Australian gallery to participate in Sydney Contemporary Art Fair in 2024.