Having worked with human hair in the past and now with donated pigeon, natural, undyed feathers, Kate MccGwire creates visually striking art. The Royal College of Art MA graduate is based on a boat floating on the Thames, which helps her stay connected to nature.

“I try to create works that are bodily, which have some sort of visceral, immediate feeling about them. Take the pieces in the cabinet, for instance, they are trapped, they have no head and no end, they are uncomfortable and beautiful at the same time. I’m constantly trying to create this fine this fine line between attractive and vaguely disquieting, they are bodily, so we recognise creases and crevices yet also alien and strange. The work uses natural patterns to suggest familiarity and truth yet they are impossible creatures; it’s more like a suffocation or tightness, a manifestation of a feeling or an emotion as opposed to an actual thing.

The intent to produce something that can be read on many levels, both visceral and cerebral at the same time, a mobius strip bth in form and meaning”, says MccGwire on interview with Coats & Scarry.

Her work transcends art and merges with fashion and photography. She has inspired Helmut Lang’s Resort 2013 with her patterns and natural tones and has been featured in a fashion shoot for Garage magazine issue 3 A/W 2012.

“There’s a great synergy between my work and fashion design: I think the sensual textures and contours of my pieces compliment the human form”.

Lydia Caldana

www.katemccgwire.com