Katie Pink

What medium do you work with, and why have you chosen them?

I work with found and synthetic materials, often in tension with one another. Materials such as polyurethane, paint,epoxy risen chains and soft elements are pushed beyond their expected use, creating forms that feel both held and unstable.

How does your artwork get from initial concept to exhibition stage?

I make up my work, I dress up my work. I build each piece through layering colour, texture and form, drawing on early memories of dressing and self-presentation.

The process becomes a way of reworking those experiences through a sculptural practice that extends into painting.

Can you tell us a little more about your creative working environment/studio?

My studio is in my home, and it’s a space of experimentation, intuition and organised chaos. It’s where I push materials together that shouldn’t necessarily belong together, and play with what they can become.

I’m drawn to contrast: soft against hard, polished against rough. My working environment is hands-on and process-driven, often messy, and it’s where ideas evolve through making. Colour also plays a big role, especially pink, which has become both a material language and an emotional marker in my practice.

Tell us a bit about your story and how you came to be an artist

Becoming an artist came from a need to make sense of things in my life. Art became a way for me to process difficult experiences, rebuild, and find connection with myself again. What started as something deeply personal grew into a full creative practice. Studying at Byron School of Art gave me the confidence, skills and community to truly commit to being an artist.

My practice is grounded in memory, material and the act of making as a way of processing experience. I draw on my upbringing in 1980s and 1990s Auckland, shaped by a sense of wildness, freedom and rebellion, alongside the experience of my parents’ divorce.

As a mother, my work also reflects on what it means to be parented and to parent myself.

How would you describe your creative process?

Across painting, sculpture and installation, I use saturated colour, soft materials and moments of excess alongside vulnerability.

What inspires you?

I draw on gestures of adornment and self-presentation, shaped by early experiences of femininity. I was always watching my mother as she got ready, and those gestures have stayed with me and reappear in my work.

Pink also appears throughout the work, from soft blush to neon, shaping a space that feels playful, unruly and alive.

I am currently developing Bubblegum Bruises Vol. II, a new body of work that expands my material-led practice into a more immersive, installation-driven environment.