Kate Banazi
Kate Banazi defines her creative identity as perpetually evolving, while her use of colour and form reflect their environment and play off each other in sculptures and prints.
Words: Emma-Kate Wilson
Kate Banazi’s Perspex | Intersection Series. Photo - Fiona Susanto Photography.
Kate Banazi in her Sydney studio. Photo - Fiona Susanto Photography.
Kate Banazi always begins by working with pencil on paper with ideas which are continually growing and evolving, starting as a foundation that the artist can always return to — and does. Her old sketches often influence her future works. From there, the ideas develop into sculptures, fashions, screenprints, expanding to mark-making and colour theories, working in 'strange' experiments that cross mediums. “I’m attracted to any substrate that will hold a mark even if only temporarily,” Kate offers.
As such, these experiments lead to artworks that reflect the artist’s interactions between people and experiences. Shadows and impressions are produced onto acrylic, indicating a constant or ever-changing state; capturing the temporality of light.
Kate Banazi’s Colour Flood sculpture which featured in this year’s Sydney Contemporary 2019. Photo - Fiona Susanto Photography.
“I try not to dismiss anything, meaning I have 100 strange experiments on the go - even the unsuccessful ones will lend themselves to new ideas later down the line.”
A corner of Kate Banazi’s colourful Sydney studio. Photo - Fiona Susanto Photography.
“My colour use is always instinctual - I don’t overthink it,” says Kate Banazi. Photo - Fiona Susanto Photography.
Kate Banazi’s Colour Flood sculpture which featured in this year’s Sydney Contemporary 2019. Photo - Fiona Susanto Photography.
Colour also feeds into this narrative of perception, as we all see colour differently with alternative emotions; every piece of art has diverse connotations for its viewer. In a way, the works can be like a mirror to memory to the audience, and even the artist.
“My colour use is always instinctual; I don’t overthink it and try and understand the interactions between the colours and layers.”
Kate grew up in a family of creators, designers, artists — with a family lineage that extends to musicians, painters, photographers and carpenters. Luckily enough, this means her desire to be an artist was always encouraged and treated as a rewarding and legitimate path. “I’m lucky enough to have family from many cultural backgrounds and their stories and wisdom imparted will always touch me in some way,” she says.
Works in progress in the Sydney studio of Kate Banazi. Photo - Fiona Susanto Photography.
Lined up - Kate Banazi’s works in progress in the artist’s Sydney studio. Photo - Fiona Susanto Photography.
Her desire was cemented with an art foundation course as a teenager where she was immersed in a wealth of artistic experience — surrounded by tutors and students with the same passion and curiosity. And later at Central Saint Martin’s College studying menswear, seeing the artist finesse study, rigour and experimentation.
“I can happily throw out the rules to the ‘correct’ way to make something in my personal work.”
“I like the way I can flick through old sketchbooks and find a long-dismissed idea that I can now reassess. I don't do that with a computer folder full of files, even though I have plenty of them!” shares Kate Banazi. Photo - Fiona Susanto Photography.
For the British-born artist, moving to Sydney was critical, as having Crohn's disease, and sequential tendency to depression, means being by the water, with sunshine and green spaces allows Kate to be more connected to her artwork and community. All while serving as inspiration and a lifting of spirits.
Kate draws on these physical presences and histories throughout her practice. Whether from problem-solving for commercial clients developing branding for textile or packaging. Or her recent works at Sydney Contemporary 2019 which saw life drawing turned into abstracted silkscreens and then back to 3D representations. Each line and colour chosen has a connection to personal memory.