Artist Statement

Mourning is something that will catch up with you if you don't make time for it.

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I was on the other side of the world when Heidi died.

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I couldn't go to her funeral.

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I didn't have time to grieve.

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A year later, working with her old tools and art supplies that I had inherited, thoughts of her crossed my mind and aspects of Heidi entered the artwork subconsciously. Undertaking a process that is sometimes referred to as the “suicide print”, I poured over 100 hours of my love into carving and printing this work.

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In the end, I achieved a lot more than the final print.

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I reached catharsis.

Artist Bio

Katelynn Partanen is a Melbourne based, multidisciplinary artist. Her practice seeks to engage with ideas surrounding the absurd and the uncanny through Contemporary Surrealism.
Partanen assisted printmaker Geoffrey Ricardo in preparation for his 2014 exhibition 'Ad Absurdum'. In 2015 she was awarded the Youth Choice Award at the National Youth Week Art Competition. She was also involved in the creation of two large scale murals in Footscray, including Christie Widiarto's This is Footscray: Animated Wall Mural, which has screened at ACMI in 2015 and 2020.
Partanen is currently undertaking her final semester of the Bachelor of Fine Art at RMIT.