Katherine O'Connor

Katherine O’Connor originally studied a B.A. in Animation at the University of Humberside and Lincolnshire. Graduating in 1999, her independent short films have been screened all across the globe. Katherine now teaches animation at Teesside University specialising in 2D animation and stop-motion.

Currently her work explores primarily the themes of corporeal and incorporeal, time and temporality with a focus on ‘the uncanny’ and links to spaces of ‘otherness’ brought together through the animated form. Katherine trained as a taxidermist in 2014, and is now a member of the Taxidermist Guild, this skill has been incorperated into her current project the short animated film Potter's Mirror. The film explores the human condition through the layers of aniamtion and its unique relationship to the uncanny. It examines our own uncanniness within, the haunting of the mind by the unconcious and more. The animateed taxidermy as the material of death infected by life and the 2D/pixeled scenes exploring our loss of agency within times flow all leading us back to our own uncanniness. 

Other areas of research interest include, representation in animation and the importance of the 'critical creator', the percived benifits of industry/student co-productions on learing gain and expierience.