Approved: 07.03.2011

Caitlin Griffiths

Artist, Film-maker, Lecturer / academic, Project manager

Approved: 07.03.2011

"I want something from you. I want to know where you are, how you got there, who you think you are and who you’d like to be. I collect pieces of people and build myself among them.”

Central to my work is the idea of identity being created through a process of exchange. To date this has focused on both the external exchange - our interaction with other people - and the internal

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Artist Statement

"I want something from you. I want to know where you are, how you got there, who you think you are and who you’d like to be. I collect pieces of people and build myself among them.”

Central to my work is the idea of identity being created through a process of exchange. To date this has focused on both the external exchange - our interaction with other people - and the internal exchange - our recalled experiences and memories. Both these concepts are rooted in common psychological theories of how we build the self.

In my series Art Histories  I create written stories using other artists’ memories as starting pointsThese memories – the stories they tell themselves about who they are – become mine to reinterpret and in the process of doing so reveal both intended and unconscious parts of my own story. In my videos I work with participants to create dialogues through which each of our identities are revealed. Sometimes the exchanges are centered around similar experiences: in 2 into 1 George Reynolds talks about having a stroke and I talk about my father’s stroke, while other times the exchanges aim to present the explicit differences: in Imago my father and I express opposite views on the value of video as art. In both pieces however I mislead as much as reveal. I speak with George’s voice and he with mine; and my father speaks my answers while I recount his.

I am interested in recognised methods of storytelling and this has primarily manifested itself through the use of voice.  In my work I exchange and reconfigure voices as a metaphor for the instability of identity.

Curator Charlie Levine has said ‘The complex ideas of voice and ownership running throughout Griffiths practice again reflects something very personal to the artist and she often uses her art as a type of therapy. She uses a variety of voices in a bid to speak from all, to all and perhaps even to keep herself hidden in the crowd. As an individual, she is alarmingly honest in her work, but she is always presented through someone else.  She hides herself away but is always ever present. We only get to know her through other peoples’ voices, faces or stories.  Griffiths does make work about herself, but she makes us search for her, leaving a trail of seemingly visible yet invisible clues.’

CV & Education

CAITLIN GRIFFITHS MPhil, BA (Hons)                                               
Born 1977, Birmingham, UK.
Lives and works in Manchester 

AWARDS & PRIZES

2019, DYCP, Arts Council England                                                                                        2019, Shortlisted Greater Manchester Art Prize
2016, Homegrown, HFWAS Performance Development Programme
2016, a-n Professional Development Bursary 
2015, Sluice Screens Prize - runner up
2014, Grant for the Arts, Arts Council England
2012, Grant for the Arts, Arts Council England
2010, Worcester Open Jury Prize                                                                       
2009, Grant for the Arts, Arts Council England                             

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2019, Everything we call real, Paradise Works, Salford, UK                                                  2018, While we belong to ourselves, Swiss Cottage Gallery, London, UK                           

2011, In to View, Aedas Presents, Birmingham
2009, Treasure Seekers VIII, Birmingham Institute of Art & Design, Birmingham            
2008, Cuckoo, Fine Art Bath, Bath   

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023, Objects at Axel Obiger, Berlin, Germany                                                                    

2019, All our still lives posed, PAPER Gallery at Manchester Contemporary, UK 

2019, Greater Manchester Art Prize, Bolton Museum & Art Gallery                                     

2016, Sluice Screens, Islington Mill,  Salford
2015, Backbone, HFWAS, Birmingham
2015, Sluice Screens, Hospital Club, London
2015, GNARL Festival Video Showcase, Lincoln Performing Arts Centre
2014, Exchange Rates, Bushwick, NY, USA
2013, Worcester Contemporary Open, WM&AG
2013, Thrift Radiates Happiness, Municipal Bank, Birmingham
2013, Band / Ties BCU, Birmingham
2012, Band / Ties, WIP Kontshall, Stockholm, Sweden
2012, FRAME Clarke Gallery, Birmingham
2011, TROVE at The Burlington Fine Art Club, Manchester
2011, Paris Correspondence School, Minnie Weisz Studio, London                    
2011, Paris Correspondence School, Trove, Birmingham     
2010, Making it, Faking It, Orleans House Gallery, Twickenham                        
2010, Open Submissions Exhibition 2010, Corn Exchange & New Greenham Arts    
2010, Glorious Rubble, Trove, Birmingham                  
2010, Paris Correspondence School, Paris                     
2010, Worcester Open, Worcester City Art Gallery                           
2010, The Vaults Bazaar, The Vaults, New Hall Hill, Birmingham                                             
2009, Grand Union Artists’ Book Fair, The Event, Birmingham                                                  
2009, Menagerie of Birds, Pitt Studios, Worcester                                                       
2008, Step, Crowd6 Gallery, Birmingham                       
2007, www.ctrl-copy.com, online exhibition                                               
2007, ArtsFest Gallery, Council House, Birmingham                                         
2007, Identity, The Old Postal Museum, Bath                             
2007, New Art Birmingham, Curzon Street Station, Birmingham                           
2006, Contained Happening, International Project Space, Birmingham                        

PERFORMANCES & READINGS
2016, Homegrown, Live Art Bistro, Leeds
2016, Homegrown, Steakhouse Live, London
2016, Homegrown, G.A.L and Little Wolf Parade, Nottingham
2015, Backbone at Homes for Waifs and Strays
2010, Echo & Narcissus, Trove, Birmingham                                                                                  
2009, An Endless Supply, The Victoria, Birmingham 
2009, Portrait of Birmingham, The Victoria, Birmingham 
2008, Hear Here, Crowd6 Gallery, Birmingham             
           
PUBLICATIONS
2010, Griffiths, C. (2010) Sledging. In: Dent, R., Flynn, K., Whittle, E. (Eds) (2010) The Spiral Path, London, Imprimata Publishers Ltd.
2009, Griffiths, C. (2009) Three Songs. In: Le Mesurier, N., Mills, G., Noble, R. (Eds) (2009) Book of Numbers: An Anthology, London, Imprimata Publishers Ltd.
2009, Griffiths, C. (2009) Do Androids Dream of Electric Whores. In: King, J., Quinn, J. (Eds) (2009) The Delinquent Anthology Issue 7, Surrey.                                                                            
2008, Griffiths, C. (2008) I don’t remember taking my shoes off. In: King, J., Quinn, J. (Eds) (2008) The Delinquent Anthology Issue 6, Surrey. 
2006, Griffiths, C, (2006) Contributor. In:Butler, J., Wage, G., (Eds) (2006) Generator 1 & 2 New International Curatorial Research, West Midlands, Article Press.
2006, MPhil Thesis: Outside the Frame: Understanding Identity and Structures of Representation. The Film Work of Isaac Julien and Steve McQueen. Birmingham University.