Kathleen Dawson

Kathleen Dawson’s themes concern the interaction of geography and history, and the fortitude of humanity under the results. Sometimes she draws upon the local landscape, but more often uses images of landscapes she has never seen and events she hasn’t witnessed. Images bring themselves to her attention through reportage, and she uses paint to explore why they engaged her interest. How much is the story, how much the image, how much is about her, and what is the message? Disaster, destruction, erosion and decay. Rebuild. Repeat. The paintings have their own history and geography, the ghosts of previous images often being visible.