Biography

Catrin Westh is a conceptual, visual artist who reflects on the rhythm and chaos of the world. Her art is a free form of storytelling, non-verbal poems about doubt, loneliness, society, exist-ence and identity. Her medias of preference includes digital collages, photomontage, mixed media, and photography. Catrin Westh was born and raised on the island “Wermdö” just out-side Stockholm, Sweden. After graduating High school she moved to southern France to study Political Science, Languages and Philosophy at the “Faculte des Arts et Lettres” in Aix en Pro-vence. After finishing her studies she was offered the possibility to move to Paris and join a model agency. For the next 10 years she worked as a model for designers and photographers around the world. She found the lack of sincerity and sensitivity in the fashion industry to be a burden and was adversely affected by the solitude. However, the travels became a veritable platform of inspiration for her future art works. Westh rapidly realized how important it is to embrace the imperfections in life rather than striving for the illusion of perfection.Today her art creations echo the freedom of accepting imperfections. The powerful and practical wisdom she gained from years in fashion industry left her with an eager desire to engage more intently with-in diverse communities. She and her life partner enjoy the thrill of travels. They both wish to ex-perience different cultures and religions hence their move in 2000 to Marrakesh, Morocco with their newborn son. That move marks the beginning of Westh’s philosophical quest to under-stand how identities are formed. While living in North Africa, Westh built, managed and owned a boutique hotel. She designed French inspired furniture and over sized pottery collections which were sold all over Europe. Hotels, Spas, and private individuals also called upon Westh to reinvent their interior decors. Her daughter was born in Marrakesh in 2005. When Westh dis-cover how many children, especially girls, fail to attend school in Morocco she joined several philanthropic missions advocating for education and building schools in rural villages in the At-las mountains. The many strong young girls and women she met during that time remains a source of inspiration for her artwork. Every encounter and interesting discussion were docu-mented in a diary. She also spent endless hours photographing “everyday- life” of hardworking women in rural locations. In 2007 the family of four moved to Cyprus. Westh continued to work in interior design and as a Spa and Hotel consultant for 5-star hotels in Cyprus and in the Mid-dle East. Always curious to find new ways of communication she decided to go back to school. In 2014 she spent the year studying Fine Art at ‘Cyprus Academy of Arts’ in Limassol. In 2015 the family continued their quest for new adventures and settled down in America. Today, Westh lives in a small town outside Nashville TN and she also spends a couple of months a year on a sailing boat between Fl and the Bahamas. While still being active as an interior designer, Westh is now more engaged than ever in developing her impressions of the world into visual poetic art works. As a global nomad, Catrin Westh has observed how people view life from different phil-osophical and political perspectives as well as more obvious geographical differences. She con-tinues to reflect on the world by creating social messages, brutal and honest, to unlock discus-sions and dialogues. Through her compositions she pushes us to reflect on the complications of being, with a specific focus on women’s experiences. The result is visual raw patchworks of the world she has seen and traveled, influenced by encounters, visions, dreams and nightmares. Westh's artworks mirrors her personal views of the different societies we have created and how our “identity” pivots around social preconditions.

Artistic Statement

Art is a world where no language barriers exist. I see myself as a storyteller. My art creations are non-verbal poems about loneliness, doubt, society, existence and identity. Experimenting, tak-ing risks, braking rules, seeing things in a new way, are fuel for my creativity. I enjoy the freedom of creating art for sole purpose of unlocking discussions and dialogues. I push the viewer to think about the complications of being. I often expose myself by participating in my art compo-sitions. Beautiful is boring and I embrace the idea that imperfection is more interesting. I chose the media depending on the message and the reaction I want to create. I mainly create Digitally modified Mixed Media Collages, but I also enjoy working with photography installation and performance. For my collages, I piece together magazine cutouts with painted surfaces, found materials, and photographs. I play with proportions and space to make the viewer’s senses more alert. As I take materials out of their original context and repurpose images, I have them mirror my personal world of emotions, thoughts, memories, and dreams. Once I have the layout of the visual poem I want to present, I do simple digital modifications in the spirit of “Techpres-sionism” on my iPhone. The final step is the giclee printing on gallery wrapped canvas. I might enhance the work by adding various items and/or artist grade paint in order to make each piece emotionally exclusive. However, all my works are Unique, - one of a kind. I find inspiration in po-etry and philosophy, as well as in my experiences as a global nomad while traveling the world. My art questions the world we have created but it is also a brutal and honest declaration of love to life. I share my intimate analyzation of the society we live in, what we have become, and what we can be, always with a specific eye on women’s experience. With my art I hope to grow a se-cret garden of emotions that can blossom free and wild within the viewer.

My Art Works are a personal approach of what Oscar Wilde said - "There are moments when one has to choose between living one's own life, fully, entirely, completely - or dressing out some false, shallow, degrading existence that the world in its hypocrisy demands.