Katina Bitsicas
http://www.katinabitsicas.com
Katina Bitsicas is a new media artist who utilizes video, photography, and performance in her art works. Her works explore the effects of crime, traumatic personal events, and architectural containments on the human psyche. By dissecting the victim-perpetrator dichotomy as well as the impact of imprisonment, whether it is in a jail, asylum, home, or mind, she creates unconventional dialogues about these topics. Based on personal experiences, she explores these larger political, social, and psychological issues on an intimate level.
Shown both nationally and internationally, Katina has exhibited in multiple galleries, museums and festivals including Videoart Festival Miden in Kalamata, Greece, AIVA Festival in Finspång, Sweden, La Corte Gallery of Contemporary Art in Florence, Italy, the Gezira Art Center in Cairo, Egypt, Traction Arts in Los Angeles, CA, the Grand Rapids Art Museum in Grand Rapids, MI, The Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, FL, The Carr Center in Detroit, MI, the Contemporary Art Museum at the University of South Florida in Tampa, FL, Digital Graffiti in Alys Beach, FL, and Gallery Penza in Lansing, MI curated by the late Michael Rush. She also worked as a production assistant on the Academy Award short-listed documentary film Battle for Brooklyn.
Born in East Lansing, Michigan, Katina currently resides in Columbia, MO. She received her BA from Kalamazoo College and Post-Baccalaureate from SACI in Florence, Italy, and was awarded the Elizabeth A. Sackler Museum Educational Trust Scholarship. Katina then received her MFA from the University of South Florida. She is currently an Assistant Teaching Professor of Digital Storytelling at the University of Missouri.
Work / video
title: Words Can Never Hurt Me, 2016, 1:29
In Words Can Never Hurt Me, phrases that have been said to me personally as well as phrases said by our recent President-elect are reenacted and edited into a triptych of voices. By re-speaking these words, I am taking ownership of the power they hold and removing it from the male voices that originally spoke them. The three women are in conversation with each other, and are constantly interrupting one another. My goal is to remove the negative power these words hold, and instead empower women to take ownership of themselves and their lives and realize that words are just words, but actions speak louder than words.
Work /photo
In Still Unearthing I revisit and photograph the spaces where traumatic memories were envisioned in order to take ownership of my past. I have been held back in many ways by the demons of my past, but by taking a powerful stance and envisioning myself as a powerful woman, I aim to overcome these flashbacks. I am not perfect, but I hope that in the future my past can be owned.
