ABOUT
Katja Hilevaara is an artist, researcher and teacher who works in performance, installation and art-writing. Ideas around maintenance, care and enchantment are often foregrounded in her artwork, and she pays close attention to the everyday in the making and thinking of her various projects.
Recent works have drawn on (auto)biography and re-imagined histories, exploring ways to tell stories that question existing narratives, and which might deliberately mis-remember or otherwise creatively interpret events to shift their perspective and meaning. Creative constraints such as tasks and instructions often shape the work.
Katja makes work with other artists and thinkers, cherishing the chance to be inspired by dialogue and conversation. She is involved in a long-term collaboration with artist Emily Orley with whom she creates performances and writes. They are interested in exploring ideas surrounding the ethics of delight, image-making, and the ephemerality of performance, but also promoting the value of practice research in the Academy.
Katja came to London from Finland in 1991 and over the years has been involved in acting, studying, devising, live art, installation, curating, writing, teaching and mothering. She is currently Lecturer in Theatre and Performance at Goldsmiths University of London and she also teaches performance and live art workshops and short courses in other organisations.
Photo: Manuel Vason