Mentor Profile: Lydia Catterall

How would you describe yourself?

I describe myself as an artist and writer, and have used both words since before I felt ready to! They felt like baggy jumpers I wanted to challenge myself to grow into. I work with lots of different partners and projects - in community settings, education spaces, local authority initiatives, artist-led spaces - I think it’s important that I call myself an artist in all of these environments. I’m not only an artist in the evening, at my kitchen table when no one is watching, and someone else entirely ‘when I’m at work’. To me, being an artist is a way of looking at the world, perceiving materials and resources, possibilities, spaces and people. It’s the lens through which I make visual art and spreadsheets, project plans, travel itineraries and relationships. It’s my permanent world view, so I try to hold my nerve by calling myself an artist everywhere.

My ex-social worker Dad once asked me about the art I make. I told him to imagine a process of weaving; selecting the threads, noticing patterns, choosing whether to fix mistakes or ask whether they say something useful, handing the process over to others to see how it looks when someone else does it. Within the social fabric is my studio space. My practice has grown from questioning systems and containers for resources and power. I also think a lot about bodies - So much of the world is designed as though we don’t feel anything, but we’re all navigating it in these fleshy, animal forms. ‘Hospitality’ and ‘connection’ have always been key to my sense of practice. I’m forever fascinated by the ways in which Art ‘gets there’ faster, in terms of speaking into overwhelmingly big questions or pivoting and rewriting existing maps. Art can be a place to test, trial and create new and co-created ways of thinking, making and living together, in the smallest and most revolutionary ways.

I have been freelance for more than 13 years, so there’s often an element of being the outsider, the invested visitor, in the projects I’m invited into. That’s a privilege in its own right. Practicing relationship over and over again will give you a sense of its texture, colour and tone. There’s nothing I believe in more than relationships, and I think art is all about that. I think that’s why making art and being around artists has always felt like home to me, and why the threats to artists and art-making feel intimate and personal.

What do you enjoy about offering Axis members critical friend conversations?

Who doesn’t want to listen to artists talk about their work all day?! No, but seriously - I can’t imagine a better way to spend my time. I think of all art practice as conversation; whether artists are speaking with each other, their viewer, their materials, their motivations, inspirations or predecessors. I love dipping into such a thick weave, even for a short time. Nothing I make happens in isolation and it’s true that, even as the listener, these conversations support my practice right back. There’s so much value in spending time with something outside your own everyday. We’re all peers, out in the field, digging and exploring. Having a sense of being part of something bigger - whether that leaves you full of hope or questions or both - can only be a good thing. 

It’s good to look up from your work and talk about it sometimes. I always leave a critical friend conversation a fan of whoever I’ve spoken to. I know them now, and I’m cheering them on. The art landscape relies on us all making, shaping, connecting and caring about one another. 

From my perspective as a disabled artist these things are even more important, but I don’t think anyone is outside needing community. Many of the industries built around us rely on us feeling a sense of urgency and competition - a need to get ahead of our peers. Supportive criticality and friendship strike me as two of the key ingredients to the counter protest.

To commit time and energy to making and being with art is to reject lots of the things that the world shouts about as being important. The treasures to be found at the roots of those choices can be incredibly beautiful, but moving towards them can feel isolating too. Artists are marginalised in so many, interrelated ways. If I can listen, ask questions and give any sense that the treasure hunt is worth it, I’m a happy woman.

Lydia Catterall has 15 years experience in local authority, community, education and arts settings, brings big questions, rigorous research and a few creative curveballs to any room she’s invited into. Lydia lives with chronic illness, making her commitment to access and inclusivity personal, as well as political. Lydia can offer discussions around: Access in both making and presenting work; Thinking through how to talk / write about your artistic practice; Considering practice sustainability and care through relationships.

We aim for these Critical Friend Conversations to be held in a space free from judgement, requiring both participants to be fully present and ready to listen. Conversations offer reciprocal benefits and are made even more valuable by continued engagement in the Axis Community, our dedicated online platform for members. 

But don’t just take our word for it! Here's what some members have said about their experience Here