Katie Shapiro

Statement:
There is never anything conclusive, just an endless series of tests.

The title for this project, There is never anything conclusive, just an endless series of tests, is taken from a book of short fiction titled Self Help by Lorrie Moore. Moore’s book references the confusion and anxiety often induced through medical tests. The feelings of disorientation, displacement, and the misperceptions associated with tests are a source of inspiration for my recent work. Drawing on the scientific aspects of photography, I am experimenting in my studio using fracture and movement to create this body of work. The results of these photographic experiments are uncertain, yet I am driven by intuition and play which is integral to my process. The immediacy involved in this process pushes the work forward into places I can’t predict.

The process for this body of work began as a desire to turn to something more tactile and studio-based. In this series, I am returning to the basic aspects of image making, mirroring, and the alchemic aspect of the darkroom process. This series of images aims at creating works that confound the viewer and question the viewing experience. This body of work is an investigation into abstraction through photograms and scans that only hint at representational forms. I utilize the methods of photography in order to warp, twist, and bewilder the viewing experience.

Bio:
Katie Shapiro was born in Los Angeles where she currently lives and works. She received her BFA in Photography from the California Institute of the Arts and is currently working towards her MFA at UC Irvine (2015). Her work has recently been shown at the Armory Center for the Arts, The Center for Photography at Woodstock, Metro PCS, and the Cohen Gallery in Los Angeles.

Artist’s Website: katieshapiro.com