Kate MccGwire

I stumbled across Kate MccGwire's Artwork quite recently and was instantly drawn in.

At first look there is usually something a little threatening about her installations, and that's just looking at the images. I haven't actually experienced any of her exhibitions myself but I imagine that must be a slightly more unnerving adventure.

These images taken by Barney Lidster are of her current piece Evacuate, installed in the Framing Identity exhibition at the Tatton Park Biennial in Cheshire. It's curated by Danielle Arnoud and Jordan Kaplin, and runs until 26th of September. As the title suggests you can't help but be intimidated by the concept of the presence of a what appears to be a huge invading beast, trying to disrupt the organized domesticity.

MccGwire who often references Freud's 'Unheimliche' or 'the uncanny,' states that, 'beauty is something that compels you or makes you question the status quo.' I couldn't argue this point with her. I would consider Evacuate to be a beautiful piece and the closer you look, the more beautiful it becomes. That's due to the intricate nature of her work and the natural beauty of the thousands of feathers that it's made up of. Yet as mentioned before although compelling....it did draw me in.....it is also more than a little disquieting.

Reading MccGwire's Artist Statement on her website, which you can check out on http://www.katemccgwire.com/ (note the double 'c') she quotes Freud's concept of home as 'a place where the familiar can somehow excite fear.' This is something she has certainly managed to achieve in this piece of work.