Catrin O'Hara
Digital and mixed-media artworks - semi-abstracts and micro-short videos. Certified archival quality prints in single or limited editions.
MessageI create bold, semi‑abstract paintings and short experimental films that arise from vivid, sensory encounters with the world around me. Each piece begins with a fleeting moment of “startled fascination", gnarled tree bark, seed heads shining like steel, water rippling over a metal sink, their materiality fusing with feeling. Since beginning treatment for complex post‑traumatic stress disorder in 2020, these moments have taken on greater intensity. They open a channel of emotional electricity that fuels my visual perception of ordinary objects.
Processes:
I capture the initial spark through sketching, photography, and digital notes. The captured elements are re‑assembled into medium‑ to large‑scale works (up to 150 cm), using layering, duplication, blend modes, and fractal techniques High‑resolution files are printed on heavy rag paper or satin gallery canvases published as archival‑quality single and limited editions at a Hahnemühle platinum studio.
My mobile-format micro‑short films (2–5 minutes) explore the boundary between the digital and the natural world. They take viewers on a meditative journey to a reflective visual realm, created from visual inputs that have sparked my interest. They are designed to be watched individually and a QR code links to evocative soundtracks that aid reflection and meditation.
Themes:
My practice reflects the fleeting fragility of our lives, the wonder in daily life, and the possibility of growth. I weave folk‑art motifs, fantastical landscapes, and botanical art into the pieces, playing with perspective, masking, and negative space. Rough hand‑drawn lines sit beside crisp vector forms, creating a dialogue between the organic and the precise, the natural and the digital.
Why “transfigurative”?
I call this “transfigurative art” because it transforms everyday experiences into resilient, beautiful, and renewing visual statements. It offers a human‑centred counter‑narrative to AI‑generated imagery, celebrating perception, emotion, and the human spirit as the true engines of artistic creation.
RECOGNITION:
'Spring Equinox', group show, Fox Yard Studio, Suffolk, UK, 2026.
'International Postcard Show 2026', group show, Surface Gallery, Nottingham, UK, 2026.
'Christmas Exhibition', group show, Fox Yard Studio, Suffolk, UK, 2025.
'Diminuto Film Festival' official selection (vertical format short film), Mexico City, Mexico
'Works on Paper', group show, Fox Yard Studio, Suffolk, UK, 2025.
Visual Artists’ Association, Art 500, shortlisted artist, 2025.
Fox Yard Studio Prize, Group Show, winning finalist, Stowmarket, Suffolk, UK, 2025 (solo show forthcoming 2026-7).
Ferens Art Gallery Open, Group Show, Hull, UK, 2025-26.
'Beneath the Veil', group show, The House of Smalls Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, 2025.
‘Fables’, group show, The Mall Gallery, London, UK, curated by Swanfall Art, 2025.
Visual Artists’ Association Artist of the Year Prize, long-listed finalist, 2025.
Visual Artists’ Association Open Prize, long-listed finalist, 2025.
‘Light and Shade’, group show, Fox Yard Studio, Stowmarket, Suffolk, UK, 2025.
‘An Abstract Adventure’, group show, Badger in the Wall Gallery, Clapham, North Yorkshire, 2025.
'The Shape of Things that have no Shape' (Spira9/EIDOS), Indra Gallery, London
'Abstraction: the energy within', Fox Yard Studio, Stowmarket, Suffolk, UK, 2025.
2024:
Fox Yard Studio, Stowmarket, Suffolk, UK (two group shows)
‘Here and Now’ group show at Oxmarket Contemporary, Chichester, West Sussex, UK
Shortlisted for Metamorph Awards.
O'Hara's work has also featured online via CistaArts gallery, Blue Koi Gallery, Crosscurrents Gallery and was shortlisted for MetaMorph, 2024.
Statement
My digital art practice is deeply intertwined with my love of nature. I often start with something simple and real, like a single plant, blossom, seed-husk, or berry, and then transform it using digital art techniques into something visually engaging and often mysterious. This process explores a space, and a playful creative tension, between the natural and the digital worlds.
During the lockdowns of 2020-21, I began a daily journaling practice, sketching the same plant in different phases of growth for several months. These sketches, which became talismans during a dark time, have since evolved into two major ongoing digital art series: Plant 1 and Plant 2. My daily walks in local woods also started me on a journey with experimental micro-short films, each incorporating elements of magic realism or themes of nature's mystery and resilience. Recently, I've been exploring the use of plant and blossom images as inputs for fractal artworks, further pushing the boundaries between the natural and digital worlds.
I love exploring what's possible in digital art through fractals, animations, blend modes, layering, and transparency. Beyond the technical aspects, I hope my art provides the viewer with a healing and satisfying experience. Each piece is rooted in themes of growth, change, and renewal.
All work Copyright Catrin O'Hara