WHO

I was brought up in East Anglia then subsequently lived in Oxford, London and the Caribbean. For the last thirty years I've lived in Brighton, which has huge variety and potential for artists, in terms both of raw material and sociability. Alongside my artwork, I have taught, practised as a therapist and, more recently, written novels.

Printmaking and painting were my starting point, from which I gravitated onto plasterwork, collage and, finally, photography. Developing the potential of digital collaging has absorbed me for the last several years, alongside fiction-writing.

I've exhibited widely, and have had prints, collages or photographs included in shows at - for example - The Royal Festival Hall, Rye Art Gallery and Brighton Museum. My photographs have been on loan to the council, and hung in the Chief Executive's Suite In Brighton and Hove Council Offices.

WHERE

Brighton hosts a festival of artists' open houses and for more than a decade I opened up my house as The Dog House, curating makers and artists alongside showing my own work. The Dog House closed its doors for the final time in 2016.

Now I work out of PHOENIX studios in the centre of Brighton, UK. Phoenix is a long-established part of the city, an artist-led; not-for-profit arts organisation housing studios as well as workshop, commercial and gallery space. My studio overlooks both Brighton's largest church and most busy junction.Studio visits welcome by prior arrangement. Please email me at karenihbarratt@gmail.com.

For more information about Phoenix see: www.phoenixbrighton.org 

HOW

Initially I used a rather ancient Canon A1 and 35mm film to take my photographic images, gravitated onto a Canon350D digital camera and every so often upgrade as the technology advances. But the overall structure and direction of what I do comes, simply, from ideas - and how best the idea might be carried out.

This self portrait is composed of one double-exposure image, but capturing my head in two visible positions. At that moment I was thrilled to see my day-old niece.