Disabled sculptor and drag king Lady Kitt does ‘Mess Making As Social Glue’.
Kitt works on long term, collaborative endeavours driven by insatiable curiosity about the social functions of art . Most regularly working with:
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Drag House DGA
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Disabled artist-led “kin collective”
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Their two children​
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Projects are usually punctuated by the creation of large-scale, vibrant installations (or sites for exchange) crafted from recycled paper, reused plastics and raw clay, which Kitt calls folk-art shrines. These are inspired by English folk traditions and the Catholic shrines they visited as a child in Portugal.
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More detailed info:
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The main structure of the installations Kitt creates are often made with a small group or community. Other people are then invited to visit, and encoureged to add to the spaces with objects and actions. These shrines are not considered by Kitt to be religious places, but they can open and hold space for mystical doings and beings. These spaces are sometimes experienced settings for performances, meals, meetings, rituals and workshops.
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The interconnecting shapes which make up the works, are inspired by the complex knot work of Anglo-Saxon objects found in Durham and Northumberland, where Kitt spend some of their childhood. The intricately woven patterns in things like the Bamburgh Bird were created to provide protection from evil spirits by catching bad magic in their writhing mesh. The works have been commissioned by galleries, historic sites, outdoor festivals and as sets for performance work. Kitt ask people they’re working with “which part of your event, space or work most needs protection or care?”. The answer often informs the physical placing, and conceptual framing, of the work.
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Kitt is drawn to the term ‘Neo Rococo’, or as they term it in relation to their own work ‘Folk-oco’- luxuriating in visual pleasures of luscious colours, sinuous ornamentation and rich undulating excess of fabrics. Playing with presentations of decadence whilst using recycled, reused and foraged materials, a practice described by composer Bridie Jackson as “Ethical Excess”. Kitt links this to other types of making which subvert capitalist measures of opulence. Like noninstitutionalized cultures of Ballroom, drag and North Eastern jazz marching bands.
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Kitt uses crafting, performance and research to create objects, interactions and events, the wild, overarching ambition of all the work is to mischievously re-craft spaces and systems. Focussing on facilitating experiences and approaches which are access-centred, environmentally thoughtful and creatively untamed.
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Some stuff that has happened as part of this work is:
· Raw clay paddling pool dances (“Pleasure Imprints” 2023-25)
· Policy changes (“enSHRINE Project” 2020-on )
· An international, ecofeminist art magazine for, and by, children (“(small but) FIERCE”)
Kitt is member of the MIMA Advisory Board and founding member of disabled artist led art rabble “kin collective” (North East Culture Awards “Newcomer of the Year” winner 2022). Previously Kitt has served as trustee for several organsations inlcuding Crafts Council, UK.
Kitt has been shortlisted for the 2025 Creative Health and Wellbeing ‘Practising Well Award’ and was Visual Artist of the Year finalist in the NE Culture Awards, 2024. Their work has won the VAMHN Arts Award 2023, been longlisted for both the 2023 and 2024 Aesthetica Art Prize, shown at Atlanta Contemporary (USA), Saatchi Gallery (UK), National Centre on Restorative Justice (USA) and been commissioned by QUEERCIRCLE ("Drag Declares Emergency" 2024), Craftspace (“Drag Declares Emergency” 2022-23), Arts&Heritage (“This, our hive of voices” 2020-22) and BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art (‘Open. Bloom. Flourish. Nourish’, 2021).
