Solo Exhibition
On view February 18 to March 17, 2023

The women in my family have been connected with needle and thread for generations. Sewing, specifically quilting, was both education and socialization for me while growing up within a Mennonite community. As a teenager I left the faith tradition of my family and it felt necessary for me to leave behind the entire culture. My quilts went into the closet, and I piled books on top of my sewing box. I struggled between the guilt and fear of turning away from a system that had shaped every aspect of my life, and the dizzying freedom of choice I faced as an unmoored almost adult. I wasn’t who I had been but had no idea who I wanted to be. In my fractured state, I turned to photography and creative writing as my mirror, it became the way I see myself.

After almost fifteen years of hiding from my heritage, I have begun to understand that in addition to painful memories, the culture from which I came gave me many beautiful ones as well. Expressing these twin truths has become a vital part of my creative practice. The quilts I made with my mother and grandmothers are beautiful, practical, and immaculately crafted. Now I piece together images, poetic prose, and disparate materials to create hand stitched pieces that allow me to look honestly at the pain I carry and to keep close the parts of myself and my culture I can’t bear to lose.

1. Bedroom Window, digital photograph, 13 x 19 inches
2. Her Two Sisters, archival pigment print, ink transfer, and thread on paper, 3 x 4 inches
3. (text)
4. Carry and Keep, detail 1
5. Baby Girl Gone, archival pigment print, ink transfer, and thread on paper, 3.5 x 7 inches
6. (text)
7. Evelyn (left), archival ink transfer and thread on paper, 3.75 x 2.25 inches | Mother Mother, detail (right)
8. Mother Mother, archival ink transfer on hand bound acrylic, 3 x 10 x .125 inches (laid flat)
9. (text)
10. Lois Jean, archival ink transfer on paper, 6 x 3.5 inches
11. Goldenrod, front and back, archival ink transfer and thread on paper, 10 x 8 inches
12. Rituals, digital photograph, 13 x 19 inches
13. Strawberry Milk, gelatin silver print, thread, and paper, 20 x 13.5 inches
14. The Writing Inside, archival ink transfer on hand bound acrylic, 3 x 2 x .75 inches
15. At Sea (left), digital photograph, 20 x 30 inches | Lucinda (right), archival ink transfer, 1.5 x 1.5 inches
16. Empty Places, hand dyed archival pigment print, thread, and pine wood, 11 x 7 inches
17. Carry and Keep, detail 2
18. Carry and Keep, detail 3
19. Getting Angry Never Solved Anything, archival pigment print and thread, 13 x 19 inches
20. Getting Angry Never Solved Anything, back
21. Untitled (left), digital photography, 5 x 7 inches, Small Details Will Spot the Mind (right), gelatin silver print, thread and paper, 17 x 5.5 inches
22. Her Long Ago, My Not Yet, digital photograph, 5 x 7 inches
23. White on White, digital photograph, 20 x 30 inches
24. A Strange Kind of Knowing, details
25. A Strange Kind of Knowing (left), paper and thread, 17 x 11 inches | A Small Bright Thing (right), archival ink transfer and thread on paper, 2 x 2 inches
26. A Diamond is a Square, archival ink transfer and thread on paper, 4 x 4 inches
27. (text)
28. A Blue Hand Reaches Towards the Moon, detail 1
29. A Blue Hand Reaches Towards the Moon, detail 2
30. A Blue Hand Reaches Towards the Moon, found furniture, archival ink transfers with pigment prints, gesso, graphite, ink, wallpaper, and thread on hand dyed cotton paper, 66 x 209 inches
31. Not Anymore, digital photograph, 20 x 30 inches
32. (text)
33. Her Mother, Her Daughter, digital photograph, 8 x 10 inches
34. (text)
35. Carry and Keep, cyanotypes on fabric and found doilies, 22 x 18 inches panels

Katie Prock Bio:
Katie Prock is a photographic artist and book maker. Prock earned her MFA in Studio Art at Florida Atlantic University, where she now works as an instructor. Her practice utilizes alternative printing techniques and incorporates handcrafted processes which emphasize chance occurrence and imperfections. Her work and research focus on topics such as identity, gender, family history, and girlhood. In addition to being exhibited across the United States, including Biblio 2020 at Art Palm Beach, Prock’s work has been featured abroad in the Body + Memory + City Photo Festival in Alicante, Spain, and the It’s Magic. A Beyond Experience exhibition in Rome