Zoe Catherine Kendall

Poetry, prose and muddled up words accompanied by original artworks

Photograph by Ludovic Des Cognets
London based interdisciplinary artist, writer and jewellery designer Zoe Catherine Kendall is busy inserting herself into the gaps between varied definitions. After graduating from a Jewellery Design BA at Central Saint Martins in 2007, Kendall went on to launch her own jewellery brand which has been represented by several independent galleries and larger shops in around London including Kabiri, Selfridges, The Last Tuesday Society and Johnny Rocket.

However, unsatisfied with being introduced by friends as a Jeweller, in 2010 Kendall began her own blog as a place to think and write about the inseparable processes of living and making art. Shortly afterwards she was invited to write the artist blog for Run Riot. This was to become the perfect opportunity for her to combine her distinctive styles of visual art with her use of the written word, allowing her the freedom to construct cross genre pieces which she broadly describes as treatments of existence. This alongside reviews and interviews of artists and figures whose work inspired her practice.

Her current body of work explores various mediums of expression including spoken and written word, illustration, painting, moving image, performance, installation, book and diary art, momento making, collected paraphernalia and body adornment. Kendall believes that by allowing herself a freedom in her forms of expression, the diverse methodologies she calls upon to voice her ideas will merge together, forming a whole story from their fragmentary parts. These fragments she says, are a much more authentic reflection of the thought process and ultimately result in a more immersive experience for her audience.

She says of her work '​personal living experiences inspire my practice, often autobiographical but never self-serving, I seek to illuminate those invisible spaces between people, action, emotion, thought and idea. Themes include a treatment of existence and consciousness, psychotherapy and play, states of mind and the self as emotional medium for wider society. I challenge my audience by making public thoughts often confined to more private contexts as a form of societal therapy. I use my life as a single twenty-something female living alone in London as a platform to begin, depicting what might otherwise be an invisible, individual struggle which is in fact shared by many.'​

Zoe is also a member of Fabelist Artists' and Writers' Collective.
Words from Zoe Catherine
  • Where Are You Romeo?

    Written on 25/01/13

    Photograph By Ludovic Des Cognets A series of evocative dairy entries which were originally read aloud, recorded and played back as part of a performance art piece shown at The Book Club in 2012. Singles Ad 23/8/11 Glum.... read more

  • Excerpts from Fragments of a Storm Suspended in...

    Written on 25/10/12

    This is a little taster of my upcoming short story as part of Lazy Gramophone's Time Project. It's an experimental piece of writing which plays with the structure and texture of language as well... read more

  • I, below

    Written on 16/12/10

    A comment on existence I, below This heart feels like a hummingfish in the buried chest today, flapping and groaning and noticeably there, condensation forms drips down the portals of my... read more

  • Defectors (our unattended throne)

    Written on 25/11/10

    Our unattended throne First it was you w ho gathering up and retreating cowardly jumped ship without me and now i, abandoning my belief have begun to slowly suffocate the memory of us then... read more

  • It gave me the shitters

    Written on 25/11/10

    It gave me the shitters It gave me the shitters, like life was just one big acid trip or something. Drug induced states blurring together with hallucinations of everyday reality tv shows; watch your life, watch... read more

  • Missing in action

    Written on 25/11/10

    Faceless Missing in Action (09/01/10 In bed before laying down to sleep) An image of you being like an icon of something cool, serious unserious and static, moving only in... read more

  • Being better

    Written on 25/11/10

    Being better (26/07/10) - the personal touch Now there's a concept I can subscribe to - being in the eternal state of my existence, eternal and transitory, everything and nothing... read more

  • A way of life: clambering on the shoulders of c...

    Written on 25/11/10

    Getting Better, Oil on Canvas Paper, 2010 a way of life We who , clambering on the shoulders of cowards, might choose to interject . We who , seeking a more intuitive understanding might require... read more

  • A letter to my universal ex-boyfriend

    Written on 25/11/10

    My boyfriend has blue eyes and a fading appearance Dear ex lover, I hope this message finds you well and rested, and that you are not too perturbed by attempts of mine to communicate with you. Its not that I want to revisit old territories,... read more

  • 'You'

    Written on 25/11/10

    Looking for you... I miss 'you' It's a chronic condition accompanied by a melancholic feeling which is often surpressed, and it's something just for myself. You are a billion light years away, somewhere... read more