We were lucky to catch up with Catherine Ashley recently and have shared our conversation below.

Catherine, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

My performance piece, Belated Avowal, stands as the most meaningful project I’ve developed thus far in my journey. At the start of summer 2023, I was looking to develop a short performance or installation that satisfied the idea of keeping time and keeping up with time, killing time, etc. Most of my work’s research is based in the interrogation and challenging of societal understandings of temporality and the motivations of biological processes. Once there was pen to paper, the script started to write itself. Then I started to hear sounds. Then I saw the visuals.

Born from ideations over not being able to count to 10, Belated Avowal swiftly became an all encompassing exploration into answering some of my oldest questions about the fluidity of time, the fragility of memory, and the tension between what is said and what is heard.

Belated Avowal is an abstract, musically-infused short play that delves into themes of time, communication, and self-reflection. Three characters engage in fragmented dialogue, struggling to understand one another as they grapple with unclear expressions and unfinished thoughts. The central figure, One, is working on a written piece, seemingly for the others, but consistently claiming to be “almost done.” This repeated phrase becomes a point of tension, representing the difficulty in articulating thoughts and the elusive nature of completing one’s emotional or intellectual journey.

I had an incredible team by my side – Daniel Sohn not only contributed to the musical composition of Belated Avowal but also performed live instrumentation and voice alongside me during the show. Sophia Nelson, though never visible to the audience, brought her character to life through her looming, omnipresent voice work. Vyette Tiya’s choreography and dancing permeated the space, enhancing and expanding the audience’s experience.

Taking on a project where I functioned as the playwright, director, media designer, and ensemble member pushed me to engage with every facet of the artistic process that underpins my practice, especially exploring my ideology of using myself as a medium in my work.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m Catherine Ashley. Coming from early experiences in jazz and theatre performance, I later moved on to work in film, then media design and installation work. All of these creative processes inform my work now as a freelance audio/visual designer, studio critic, and musician.

Being from the North East, I find comfort in the transformation of space over time, and the new experiences that come with them. I finished undergrad in 2020, and was dropped into the pool of emerging creatives with no floaties. Rediscovering myself in isolation allowed me to bring grief, collective memory and relationship to the forefront of my practice.

As I’ve just finished my MFA in the spring, I’m looking for more opportunities to connect, collaborate and support thought-provoking storytelling and sensory experiences. I currently develop print/digital graphic design projects, and audio/visual work for clients, using my skills of interdisciplinary communication to make sure their point is getting across. Along with that, I work as a part time professor at Rhode Island School of Design, teaching college students about the interaction between objects, space and time.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

It has been a long journey unlearning ideals of perfectionism, and it’s still something I’m actively working on. Growing up as a Black girl in the U.S., there were systems but in place to ensure my plateauing in society. My way to combat that was to show up and be the best, and I did. I later learned that this often stems from societal pressures to code switch and work twice as hard to be seen as equal, which lead to so much burnout and emotional exhaustion.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is access to curiosity. Feeling the freedom to ask questions, fall down rabbit holes and simply explore has made my life, and me such a fuller three dimensional being. Watching that feeling wash over other people is definitely the second most rewarding aspect.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://catherinenoa.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inoaplace/

Image Credits

Photo Credits: Jiho Park, Jingwen Cao, Catherine Ashley