Cathy Dorman’s work explores light and experience in site specific domestic spaces. It challenges the viewer’s perception, shifting between representation and abstraction. Through model making, photography, paint and sculpture her work investigates light within space broken down into a series of planes. It experiments with perspective, flattening space into two dimensions by disrupting its order and harmony. Through structural contradiction, illusion and manipulation of scale, Dorman aims to transform the viewer’s awareness of their surroundings. Her compositions obscure the autonomy of a given room whilst incorporating objects that ground her work in reality.

Modern architecture has altered the conventions of domestic life expanding the definition of ‘home’ by accommodating its occupants in spaces and arrangements that reflect their activities and values. Dorman is inspired by the role of women, both as practitioners and as patrons, in the reshaping of domestic architecture. This current body of work focusses upon the house, Casa de Vidro in Morumbi, Sao Paulo designed by Lina Bo Bardi in 1951.

Cathy Dorman is a full time artist based in Dublin having spent the earlier part of her working life as an architect. She graduated from the National College of Art & Design in June 2020. She participated in the RHA’s

Annual Exhibitions in 2019 and 2021 and in the RUA’s Annual Exhibition in 2020 She was shortlisted for the RDS Visual Arts Award 2020 and is currently enjoying a residency awarded to her by the RHA at the RHA/ IPUT Wilton Park Studios. She recently participated in the Rising 21 show at Hang Tough Gallery.