Meet Kitsch Doom: Filmmaker, Printmaker & Performance Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kitsch Doom and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kitsch, how do you think about risk?
Risks are everything! Deciding to become an artist as a career is already a risk in itself, as we all know, but that’s what makes it so exciting! As a visual artist, performer and filmmaker I believe that taking risks just makes better art work all around. It’s always worth the chance. I always rather take an experimental approach with my own work rather than one that is rigid and over thought. The moment I began to embrace risk taking in my art work is when everything started to fall into place. It was a major turning point in my practice. I have a background in printmaking which is a very old art form, it is quite technical and requires a lot of planning. During my BA degree I wondered was there a way to make this quite methodical medium less rigid? I started to make prints in my own spontaneous way, mixing many different mediums in one piece. That same energy has now translated into how I make my films and characters as well. Risks leave room for mistakes, which is where the real magic happens. Mistakes are actually the best thing that could happen to you as a creative person. Taking risks creates new, unknown challenges and requires you to think outside the box. Sure, it’s more work, it’s totally unpredictable, but nothing great comes easy! And when it works, there is nothing better! Yes, failure is always a scary and possible outcome but I believe that failure is something to welcome and to learn from, not something to fear. In my own experience taking risks has only benefited my life, my art work and my career. As a person, it has made me stronger, more flexible and fearless. A risk taking approach has made my artwork what it is today. 

Please tell us more about your business. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today business-wise. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
Kitsch Doom works between performance, video, photography, sculpture and printmaking. Their work is informed by themes on identity, the body, and social expectations. Enlightened by theories on gender, sociology and post-humanism, Kitsch transforms themselves and volunteers into fictional characters. These characters are derived from a place that is deeply personal from themselves and the volunteers involved. Kitsch creates narratives for these characters based on reality as well as fiction. These characters occupy a world where traditional roles and ideas still linger yet they attempt to quickly move on from these roles and even try to create their own. This fictional world acts as a reflection of the one we are living and experiencing right now. A world where fiction and reality hold the same merit. The work occupies a space that lies in-between performance and theatre, sexuality and gender and the social body and individual freedom.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I have so much support from so many people in my life I count myself very lucky, it’s impossible to name them all. I couldn’t continue my work without the ongoing support of my friends and family. Especially my partner and husband Reinaldo Bonet. He always helps me with anything I need and continuously supports my art work no matter how strange it might be! He has shot many of my films with me and creates original music for them sometimes too. For my recent film The Clothes Wear You (2020) he made the perfect soundscape for it and that film has been very successful winning 4 awards for Best Experimental Film in festivals in New York Film Award, Los Angeles Film Awards, Festigious Los Angeles and FilmCon. I think when our work is combined, we simply make magic together! I’m lucky to have a very talented partner by my side, who inspires me every day. I also want to thank the tutors and technicians in my college at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, Ireland where I am in my final year of an MFA course. The tutors there always push us to work outside of our comfort zone and help us grow as professional artists. The technicians have helped me tremendously! They are all very knowledgeable. They have helped me gain so many skills in media and filmmaking and continuously support any ideas that I have. I also want to thank Stoney Road Press for representing my print work internationally and for giving me that opportunity so early on in my career. I am thankful to writers Judith Butler for her theory on performativity, Isobel Harbison’s Performing Image, Donna Harraway’s essay A Cyborg Manifesto and Rosi Braidotti on her book The Posthuman. These theories continue to inspire my work as a whole.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kitschdoom/

Image Credits
Kitsch Doom