Welcome Kate Turner (RAiR 2021-22)

Kate Turner | West Chester, OH

Kate Turner is a visual artist and writer from West Chester, Ohio. She uses various art making processes including installation, film, fashion and performance to abstract memories and experiences she has from growing up as the product of a transracially adopted child in the midwest. What it was like forging an identity in a place that claimed to be color blind. Through her stories she hopes to examine contemporary issues surrounding identity, race, and gender.

“You’re not going to get into college without a sports scholarship”. Words I can clearly remember spoken by my father. From a young age I was an athlete. My body was made to move. Trophies lined my walls validating my performance. I learned to love and yearn for the applause of a crowd. After all “Most Likely to be on ESPN” was my senior superlative. I trained, and practiced, building my body into the perfect spectacle. The perfect package for entertainment. To be consumed by all the bodies around me.I started stripping at the age of 20. My formative years had trained me for dancing. My athletic black body something of a commodity. Men, Women, all eyes on me as I enticed them into keeping my lights on. Sex work is real work. False hopes with long blinks. Fake laughs to comfort egos. I was caring for them as much as they were caring for me. My care was emotional and physical labor. Their care was in the form of bills.

Motherhood came unexpectedly. At a time when I was practicing slamming my body as hard as I could into rock bottom my body made life. This is what I make my work about. The gaze, my hair, labor, black bodies, athletics and entertainment. My work continues to build upon the increasing amount of diverse voices in the field of sculpture and extended media. My life offers an array of culturally subversive subject matter. Producing work about it opens up dialogue and this visibility is key to expanding the inclusivity of our practice of art making. Through multimedia installation, video, and performances I aim to examine contemporary issues around identity, race, and gender magnifying the narratives of queer black women making our stories more visible and accessible.

https://k84art.com