Kate Downie

This large work is about the emotional and physical link between northern European lives and economic migration to America. The room depicted here is a metaphor for the ‘story furniture’ on inside of my head at that time. I like to use window-scapes as a formal structure for many works, especially car and taxi winows.

I made the original drawing from inside a cottage on the edge of the Karmsund, in Karmoy, looking out to all the passing ships, remembering stories from the island people about their sea faring past. It became a link painting between two exhibitions, and was first seen as ‘The Sea Room’ in The Watermill show of the same title in May 2008.