KATHERINE M. WATERS > The Fates, The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham UK,
As part of her Artist in Residency at The Barber Institute of Fine Arts; Birmingham figurative sculptor Katherine M Waters, a self confessed admirer of Bernini and Italian baroque; decided to take a fresh look at the Italian masterpiece ‘ The Three Fates’ a painting by Sebastiano Mazzoni. “The residency involved responding to a piece of work in The Barber’s collection, I wanted to choose a piece which was accessible to all; the notion of Fate, of course is. Mazzoni’s portrayal, gives the fates interestingly mischievous characters, suggesting that our destiny is not necessarily in the hands of responsible characters. I aimed to explore traditional and contemporary representations of this theme, creating an exhibition, which, is tactile, visual, questioning and hopefully fun.
With this in mind I wanted to somehow create a unifying character which had three different personas.
I decided to use the same mould of a Baroque figure, but introduce differing characteristics through the use of particular materials and games.
As part of her Artist in Residency at The Barber Institute of Fine Arts; Birmingham figurative sculptor Katherine M Waters, a self confessed admirer of Bernini and Italian baroque; decided to take a fresh look at the Italian masterpiece ‘ The Three Fates’ a painting by Sebastiano Mazzoni. “The residency involved responding to a piece of work in The Barber’s collection, I wanted to choose a piece which was accessible to all; the notion of Fate, of course is. Mazzoni’s portrayal, gives the fates interestingly mischievous characters, suggesting that our destiny is not necessarily in the hands of responsible characters. I aimed to explore traditional and contemporary representations of this theme, creating an exhibition, which, is tactile, visual, questioning and hopefully fun.
According to ancient religion, the destiny of man was determined by the three fates, who visited the baby on it’s third day of life:
- Klotho who spun the thread of life
- Lachesis, who was the apportioner, deciding how much time for life was to be allowed for each person or being
- and Atropos, who chose the mechanism of death and ended the life of each mortal by cutting their thread with her "abhorred shears."
With this in mind I wanted to somehow create a unifying character which had three different personas.
I decided to use the same mould of a Baroque figure, but introduce differing characteristics through the use of particular materials and games.
Lachesis is made of pulped Financial Times and is covered in snakes and ladders.
Klotho is made from pulped Yellow Pages and contains images from Monopoly; and Atropos is made from pulped Birmingham Posts and is decorated with die.
The tattoos on the baby allude to it’s destiny
