KATHY ROBINS

Kathy Ackerman Robins has worked on bringing together art, design, community development and social activism throughout her working life founding environmental and social responsibility initiatives. As an artist, Robins has exhibited her work in various local and international art shows. Through her art practice, she aims to engage with issues of displacement and home in the context of entangled contemporary ecological and socio-political issues. Using natural materials and forms, she considers processes of human connection and interaction with the natural world. In the context of the current international, physical displacement and social disconnection of people from the land and also from each other, Robins engages with materials and processes that echo issues of displacement and longing for a lost connection. More recently, she has been challenging herself to use primarily non -toxic and renewable materials while highlighting their intrinsic beauty and at the same time speaking to larger environmental concerns that threaten the survival of our planet. In her artworks, the fragility of the natural world leads the audience to reflect on the fragility of human life and the struggles of individuals and communities caught on the margins of social existence. In her practice, Robins aims to create a space for re-connection with nature thus mapping out paths to coexistence and mutual respect.