The Muse in the Land : Jill Catto

Throughout history land has long been thought of as feminine. These land works began with Jill Catto’s intent to revisit her personal history through a gendered lens. William de Kooning’s series of Women paintings of the 1950’s predicated her exploration. His works seemed to Jill to pre-empt the social consciousness of her formative years.

As the artist’s work evolved she found she was referencing two prevalent views of the female; mother or siren. Myth and experience became entwined as Jill began to question whether the images were representative of personal experience or evocative of something more universal.

“I began working on the ground, with sticks to distance direct contact with the surface, allowing the images to emerge. In this way I began to question whether the images were also drawn from the earth. That a synergy was created between the matter of self which is also matter drawn of the earth.”