Katy Horan

Gallery Affiliations: Swarm Gallery

Region: West

Website: http://www.katyart.com/

City / State: Austin, TX


My work is about storytelling, and my recent work uses my own life experiences and that of other women to tell stories about difficult things like violence, loss, mental illness, and trauma. I grew up in a culture that did not grant room for such conversations, and I needed to make work that allowed me to talk about “heavy” things while creating space for others to feel seen.

I use ambiguous narratives and both directly personal and coded references to illustrate a range of experiences and emotions. I wanted to show women struggling with things out of their control as well as women surviving and caring for or defending each other. I used cinematic/archetypal imagery and melodrama to create a sense of distance from which the viewer can experience these narratives in a safe and hopefully cathartic way.