Biography of Catherine Yass
Photographer Catherine Yass (born in 1963 in London, UK) is well known for her use of the experimental technique of solarization, a phenomenon where dark areas appear light and lighter areas become dark. By overlaying the film's positives and negatives, she produces surreal and luminous images she later translates and exhibits as lightboxes, prints, and films.
There is a hauntingly psychological quality to Catherine Yass' work, due in part to her choice of claustrophobic subject matter: sinister corridors, staircases and empty cells. Her use of brilliant color—reminiscent of x-ray—exposes the structural skeleton that lurks beneath her architectural subjects, bringing small overlooked details to the fore and dissolving a realistic sense of space.
Catherine Yass' work is featured in a number of collections worldwide including Tate, London; The Jewish Museum, New York; The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh; and The National Museum of Women in the Arts Collection, Washington DC.