Catherine Yass
- Associate Lecturer
- Photography MA
Catherine Yass (born 1963) lives and works in London.
In her practice, Catherine Yass tests the boundaries of photography and film by destroying the emulsion, light leaks in the camera, turning the image upside down and the wrong way round, running footage backwards and other means available. Through this material manipulation she puts her subject matter on trial, questioning the role of photography and film in colluding with institutions to uphold their ideologies. She hopes to offer new ways of viewing and feeling the world through opening up unseen perspectives from non-human or diverse viewpoints that are often neglected or marginalised.
Key details
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Solo exhibitions
2023: Flood Barrier, Valence House, London; Eastbury ManorHouse, London; screenings at ICA, London and Turner Contemporary, Margate.
2021: Falling Away, Ambika P3, London.
2017: Aeolian Piano, screening at RIBA, London.
2014: Cadences, Flight, MK Gallery, Milton Keynes.
2011: Lighthouse, De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea.
2012: Lighthouse, Galerie LeLong, NY.
2012: Lighthouse, Alison Jacques Gallery, London.
2012: Flight, The Phillips Collections, Washington D.C.
2009: The China Series, Stedelijk-Hertogen bosch Museum, The Netherlands
2009: Descent, St Louis Art Museum, St Louis, MO.
2008: High Wire, Glasgow International, CCA, Glasgow; German Gymnasium London; Laing Gallery, Newcastle.
2006: Lock,Alison Jacques Gallery, London.
2006: Lock, Galerie Lelong, New York.
2005: Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno, Gran Canaria Al Qattan Foundation, Ramallah; Art Basel, Unlimited, Basel Art Fair Foam Photography Museum, Amsterdam.
2004: Alison Jacques Gallery, London.
2003: Jerwood Gallery, London.
2002: Turner Prize, Tate Britain, London.
2000: Descent, aspreyjacques, London.
Group exhibitions
2025: Estuary Festival, Southend-on-Sea
2022: Multiple Cutout,Dan Galeria, Brazil
2021: Documents from the Borders of Conflict, James Hockey Gallery, UCA.
2021-24: Light, Tate touring exhibition starting at Museum of Art Pudong, continuing to Seoul, Melbourne, Auckland,Tokyo, Osaka.
2019: Architecture of London, Guildhall Art Gallery.
2018: Living with Buildings, Welcome Collection, London. Powerful Tides - 400 Years of Chatham and the Sea, The Historic Chatham Dockyard, Kent, UK, Manchester Art Gallery.
2017: Dizziness Navigating the Unknown, CCA, Warsaw, Poland. Navigating the Unknown. Elastic Actions in a Dizzying World, Kunsthaus Graz, Austria. Mission is 40, Mission Gallery, Swansea, United Kingdom. Togetherness: Notes On Outrage, Kestle Barton Gallery, Cornwall, England.
2016: Descent, Togetherness: Notes on Outrage,South Kiosk, London. Precarious Balance, CoCA, Christchurch, New Zealand (touring: China).
2015: Work, Rest, Play: British Photography from 1960’s to Today, curated by The Photographer’s Gallery, London, Mingsheng Arts Museum, Shanghai (touring).
2014: How to Construct a Time Machine, Milton Keynes Gallery. MART Museum, Rovereto, Italy. Mumok, Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna. Cultural Cartographies, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, USA. Tribute to an Avenue, Sculpture International Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands. Walkon: From Richard Long to Janet Cardiff, 40 Years of Walking, Plymouth, UK.
2013: Fluid Motion, Museum of Fine Art, Boston. Government Art Collection, Revealed,Ulster Museum, Belfast, Ireland. 13th Montreal Photo Biennale.
2012: Desire Lines, Australian Centre of Contemporary Art, Melbourne. Government Art Collection: Commissions: Now and Then, Whitechapel Gallery, London. The World in London, Photographer’s Gallery, London. Skyscraper: Art and Architecture Against Gravity, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.
2012: High Wire, Tate Britain, London.
Public collections
Tate, London; Arts Council of England, The British Council and the Government Art Collection, London; MoMA, New York; The Jewish Museum, New York; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh; and the National Museum of Women in the Arts Collection, Washington DC.
Publications
2024: reTouching The Swing, Burlington Contemporary Journal
2023: On Balance by Davide Deriu, publisher Lund Humphries
2023: Pattern and Chaos edited by Sarah Horton, publisher Intellect Books
2022: Distressing Language by Michael Davidson, publisher NYU Press
2021:Falling Away, Ambika P3, publisher Westminster University
2020: Miraj journal, edited by Michael Mazière & Lucy Reynolds, Westminster University
2018: Ship To Shore: Art and the Lure of the Sea. Jean Wainwright. John Hansard Gallery
2015: Work, Rest and Play. British Photography from the 1960’s to Today. Exhibition publication to accompany touring show in China. The Photographer’s Gallery.
2015: How to Construct a Time Machine, edited by Marguard Smith, MK Gallery.
2013: Why does it not have to be in Focus?Julie Higgins, Thames and Hudson, UK.
2012: 100 Years, 100 Artists, 100 Works of Art, Roundel, Art on the Underground.
Major commissions, residencies and awards
2024: Paddington Square permanent public art work for St Mary’s Hospital, commissioned by Lacuna for Great Western Developments
2023: Flood Barrier, commissioned by Create London.
2019: Legacy, Supreme Court, commissioned by Spark 21 to celebrate 100 years of women in the Law.
2017: Aeolian Piano, commissioned by White Noise for the departure of the BBC for the BBC TV Centre.
2015-2018: Royal London, Vital Arts residency and Welcome Trust commission.
2013: Decommissioned, The Jewish Community Centre, London.
2013: Interval (VI), Rambert Dance Company, London.
2011: Lighthouse, De La Warr Pavilion.
2008: High Wire, Artangel.
2006: Lock,British Council residency in China.
2003: Split Sides, Merce Cunningham, Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York.
2002: Waking Dream, Welcome Trust Award, London.
2002-2005: Arts and Humanities Research Board, Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design.
2002: Turner Prize nomination.
2001: 10th India Triennale, representing UK and first prize, New Delhi.
2000: Sci–Art,The Welcome Trust, London.
2000: Year of the Artist Award, The Arts Council of England.
1999: Glenn Dimplex Photography prize, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin.
1997: Citibank Photography Prize Shortlist.