Katrina Palmer

On a shelf in a dimly lit room used for storage, Katrina Palmer has placed a screen showing a moving-image work. Ragged School Trip is a first encounter with the place, in which the spaces Katrina passes through are caught unaware by the lens of her camera. Light streaks across her path, illuminating things as flickering memories before darkness takes over – a metal stair rail, a child-sized chair, writing chalked on a blackboard, an old photograph of a woman diving; the shape of an object cast by shadow on a wall. Lurking in obscurity, unformed presences are felt but not seen. Voices are heard whispering amongst the shadows, footsteps echo around the stairs. Sounds rise and fall like breathing. Inside, the building’s emotional state is palpable.  Outside, by the canal, the daylight is bright and persistent, a duck is swimming and the noise of children playing can be heard close by. In the dimness of the storeroom Katrina’s Ragged School Trip is experienced over and over again.