Exploring the works of Catherine James, exhibited at the Nunnery Gallery as a part of its recent September show, ‘In the Flesh’.
This week the exhibition ‘In the Flesh’, held at the Nunnery Gallery in London, came to a close. Running between the 20th and the 26th of September, the event focused upon the works of six multi-disciplinary artists who looked to showcase a variety of mediums, from painting and printmaking to sculpture and photography. In doing so, these artists hoped to shed light upon a range of subjects, such as our health, our decaying industrial structures, and our changing natural landscapes. These weren’t just any artists who had randomly convened, however. Inspired by the government’s ‘Rule of Six’, a law introduced during the Covid-19 lockdowns that prevented gatherings of more than six people, these creatives chose to unite under the name ‘The Six Artists’ and work together to create multiple bodies of work as a collective. Although they have produced an online exhibition together, ‘Rules of Six’ in 2021, ‘In the Flesh’ is the first exhibition they have produced under their new name.
As someone who enjoys taking a thematic perspective, to me what lay at the heart of this event was a desire to observe the unstoppable march of time and the impact that this has upon us humans and our surroundings. In essence, it therefore appeared to be an exhibition that centred upon the development and decomposition of the ‘flesh’ that both surrounds us and accounts for who we are as homo-sapiens; be it our industrial buildings, our skin tissue, or as Catherine demonstrates here, our brains.
For centuries however, we didn’t really know how our brains and bodies functioned. This was largely because the Church, which greatly influenced society prior to our modern era, condemned the dissection of dead bodies, even if such a practice was claimed to be for medical purposes. In that regard, it’s both intriguing and ironic to think that Catherine’s artworks here were exhibited in a place that used to be a Carmelite Convent during the nineteenth century; particularly when you realise that they highlight an early set of slides made from a brain specimen that was dissected over a hundred years ago by pathologists at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, in Washington DC. Interestingly, these specimens were then photographed by American photographer John Malis in the 21st century and used by Catherine to create her exhibited artworks.
An artist whose practice is grounded in printmaking, Catherine combines traditional techniques with digital technology to produce works, like the ones you can see here, that are made up of paper, textiles and film. In this regard, her artworks displayed within the exhibition, as you may have already noticed, are not singular images but are instead a series of printed panels that have been put together to create one single piece. As hinted at, each panel is based upon Malis’ individual photographs of a single pathology slide from a nineteenth century human brain specimen.
To mimic the original process of dissection and slide preparation, however, Catherine has digitally cut each image of the brain specimen into multiple sections before then merging them into a new whole, reconstituting them and separating them again into sections. She has then printed each section onto flax linen and then stitched these panels together to represent one original slide and photograph, only this time from a different perspective. Though, whilst such a process may provide viewers with a different viewpoint when it comes to dissection, Catherine’s use of material and scale helps to add an even greater depth.
For printmakers, the kind of material that they use is often just as important, if not more so, than the design- process itself. After all, printmaking, the art of transferring an image from one medium to another, is nearly always categorised by the kinds of materials that are being used: be it woodcarving or lithography. Yet, given how much of a difference these materials can make to the general aesthetic of a piece, such an emphasis is not that surprising. Catherine uses flax-linen here for her panels for instance because it is a natural material and its net-like fibres resemble human tissue. Being a natural product, her use of Flax also introduces an element of spontaneity, particularly as its naturality is something that goes beyond the artist’s control. All artworks, however, have a size and interestingly Catherine has produced each panel to replicate approximately the same surface area as the human brain, something which undoubtedly provides viewers with a greater experience. Though, one might wonder how Catherine’s own life experiences have contributed to how she has created these pieces?
When artists look to portray certain elements, it does not necessarily mean that they are entirely familiar with those subjects. A myriad of painters and photographers for instance depict houses without any knowledge of how to construct them, in the same way that singers sing about events and emotions of which they have no experience. Indeed, you could say that this insight is what separates arts and crafts. After all, potters can create pots because they know how to mould them in the same vein that artisans can produce tables because they know how to design them. Catherine, however, is an artist who possesses both a creative ability and an experiential insight when it comes to her pieces exhibited here.
Before studying for a Fine Art Foundation Diploma at Morley College and an MA in the History of Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art, gaining Distinctions in both, Catherine trained as an academic Obstetrician and Gynaecologist. In this regard, particularly after seeing the brains here, it is clear that both her clinical and historical training influence her creative work. Indeed, much like those early pioneers of medicine, Catherine seems to espouse the importance of understanding change and development of the flesh through science – though unlike those who once practised in St. Elizabeth’s hospital, she deals in prints not postmortems.
Catherine is currently working on a London Arts and Humanities Partnership (AHRC) project focused on early printed material in the rare book collection at the Royal College of Physicians.
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