Kathryn Desforges

Kathryn Desforges' process-driven pieces carry echoes of elemental forces and half-glimpsed, half-remembered places - conveying a quiet presence, imbued with a sense of both strength and fragility.

Trained as a printmaker with a strong background in drawing, she approaches her pieces through that lens - building up layers of paint, collaged print, traces of pigment, carving, sanding back, and embracing the incidental. Each piece evolves through experimentation, intuitive decision-making, and the balance of control and unpredictability. Soft, organic marks are offset against rigid forms, lines and edges, creating shifts in balance and tension as compositions develop.

The resulting works feel like re-imaginings - residues of memory and place, distilled through an ongoing dialogue with materials. Their painted, stained, carved and sanded surfaces reveal themselves gradually with closer looking. In recent work, repetitive gestures multiply and build across surfaces like debris, suggesting larger elemental processes, directional flow and mass-movement.

Kathryn holds a BA in Fine Art from Kingston University, and has undertaken artist residencies in the UK and in Japan, where she studied woodblock printing - an experience which had a profound effect on her practice. Her work is held in the Tate Library Artist Book Collection, and recent exhibition include the Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair and No Place Art 2025, where she was awarded two prizes.