Kate Atkin
Fire Station Residency
2010-2015
Kate Atkin was born in 1981 in Odstock, Wiltshire and lives and works in London. Whilst studying for an MA in photography at the Royal College of Art, London (2003-05), she began to explore new ways of expressing her interest in the exotic and incongruous. Often using natural forms such as roots, rocks and flowers, her work presents familiar forms in a new state of isolation removed from their surroundings to appear as microscopic-like floating islands.
Kate describes the process behind her early drawings as an epiphany, releasing her from the photographic medium. She now uses photography more as a documentary tool to start her work. From different positions, she takes photos of her selected subjects at curious angles, using these initial images as sketches to work from on a much larger scale. Atkin imagines when a drawing might be fully finished and stops work a day before, leaving an unresolved quality which allows the image to breathe.
Fire Station Residency 2010-2015
Acme's residency at the Fire Station is one of the most directly supportive schemes for artists in the United Kingdom, providing combined studio and living space at low rents, as well as a half rent residency for a deaf or disabled artist. This five year fixed-term residency scheme is intended to allow artists more time to concentrate on the development of their work and professional careers, and less time working to survive. 2010-2015 artists were selected by artist and educator Cath Hawes, artist Gayle Chong Kwan, and Acme's founder and former Chief Executive Jonathan Harvey.