Catherine McCaw-Aldworth

After finishing my essay on gender performativity, I was really inspired with what kind of context I want to include in my work. I have been trying for a long time to move away from the fluid painting and classical sculpture interests, but I couldn’t move anywhere as I had no idea where I wanted to go and so I was just floating around for the last few weeks working on more written work than physical pieces.  After finishing the essay, I started to look more into horror and sci-fi movies. I became really inspired by the visual settings of horror movies, Mostly the houses and the role they play in the settings of the movies. Horror has always been something consistent in my life, the thrill of the movie and the adrenaline rush it gives. The spooky and gloomy aesthetic takes me away into a different world that personifies these demons that cannot be seen in day to day life. Psycho is perhaps one of the best-known horror/thriller movies ever made, it has become a staple in th...

The first essay of the year is upon us and I am actually really excited to be writing it, probably because the topic/text I have chosen is super interesting and relative to me (I think). Out of the many texts I chose ‘Carrie and the boys’ which talks about gender in horror cinema, especially in the 1970s classic ‘Carrie’. Without exposing the entire essay, I have written thus far, I will share with you the introduction which sets up the essay and explains in more detail what and who I’m looking into. “This essay will be an exploration of gender performativity within horror cinema. To better understand this theme, we will look past modern horror cinema and explore 1930s horror when gender performativity took deeper root with the introduction of sound into movies. We will also explore various themes within gender performance, such as; the role of the audience, the final girl, cinematic gaze, sexuality between genders and most importantly the female scream. We will be looking into...

High and Dry Poster  As part of my uni course we were tasked with curating an exhibition in groups around the idea of kitchen heterotopia. I of course had no idea what this meant but was keen to learn more about it. When we were first assigned to our groups we collectively decided to go away and think individually about what we wanted our exhibition to be and look like and then we had a group meeting to discuss some of the ideas we had and make a brainstorm and plan of action for the weeks ahead. I had various ideas about locations, I was thinking more about probability and being able to make the show happen and be successful in a short space of time that we were given. My ideas included, turning a caravan into a mobile kitchen exhibition and taking it on tour for a week, this became probable with the variable of needing to find someone able to drive it to different locations every day of the week. I also thought about using a church kitchen, almost like an art soup kitchen, ...