Painting & Printmaking School of Fine Art
Catrina McGregor
Multidisciplinary Artist
I, Catrina McGregor invite you to join me on a voyage into the liminal spaces found between life and death. Through ritualistic immersive installations that are a combination of Butoh performance, video, and painting that physicalise the intangible space of the ‘in-between’.
Each medium serves a purpose in the physicalisation process; Butoh performance breathes life into the bodiless inhabitants that reside in the in-between. Video and installation contribute in building little pockets for you to enter and explore this otherwise invisible realm. Painting and drawing is the backbone of my entire practice, by visualising the colour palette of the in-between, as well as giving form to the formless inhabitants and their surroundings.
My original endeavour into the in-between was motivated by finding my lost loved ones, but instead, I have come across the bodiless inhabitants residing in the space, and my loved ones have yet to be found. The inhabitants offer contrasting perspectives of sentience and mortality as it is not something they seem to crave; these interactions led me to question my intentions of finding the deceased by providing alternative conditions and conversations of existence, suggesting that finding them may not be as simple as originally thought.
Through this realisation, I must first flesh-out as much of this world and its inhabitants as I can in the hopes of it bringing me closer to finding my lost loved ones!
Through my practice, I invite you to come with me and sink deeper into introspection and contemplation regarding themes of existence, mortality, and the possibilities that can be found in the transitional spaces in-between.
Contact
Exorcism of The Mimic
Video Performance
25:35 minutes
2024
Exorcism of The Mimic is a film documenting the exorcism of a dream entity that is referred to as ‘The Mimic’ via the ritual beetle death trail. The Mimic is a dream entity found in the space between life and death. They have tormented me for years by appearing as my lost loved ones and making them perform upsetting scenes like running away, disappearing, becoming a monster, and dying in front of me. They have replaced my memories of them with themself pretending to be them – I have almost forgotten the real them. I hope that performing this exorcism will mean I can slowly begin to remember them again, and by remembering them, I will have a better chance of finding them.
Purpose of Beetle Death Trail:
To become possessed by chosen entity, put them on a fixed trail where they will march to their demise. In the ritual, The Mimic borrows my body through possession and experiences the corporeal sensations that come with it. This possession is how I better understand The Mimic as well as a way for them to better understand me.
