Men sometimes take a step back when they learn what was used to paint the work before them. Women are more spontaneously fascinated “and go closer,” laughs Katrin Bernhardt, while hanging up two pictures in shades of red for the photographer.
Admittedly, painting with your own menstrual blood is not something you do every day. Does she see it as a feminist act? “Yes, as long as it’s exciting. Not until it becomes commonplace, when at some point everyone paints with menstrual blood, even grandma.” She herself is also enthusiastic about the properties: “The blood has a different color each time and is heavily pigmented; you can dilute it very well.”
Because this relatively new facet of her artistic work is highly polarizing and stimulates many conversations, she wants to explore and explore the topic a little more. Together with a friend she is planning blood painting workshops for girls and young women. The duo aims to break down inhibitions and lead the participants to a positive approach to the female body through intuitive work, i.e. painting.
“Why should menstrual blood be any more horrifying than cutting my finger?” she asks. Menstruation is a huge taboo, and women have been drummed into hiding it for generations. To this day, the tampon should not be visible in the hand when women go to the toilet with it. “I thought to myself: That’s exactly why the blood has to be in a picture. You have to look at it. Something that is seen as waste suddenly becomes important stuff.”
The artist came up with the idea in the course of a series of nudes. The cycle was called “Find the Woman”; you really have to look for the female bodies in these pictures. “It’s always said: We haven’t found a woman for the board, we’ve asked so many anyway. I addressed the visibility and invisibility of women in society.”
The feminist approach has been a part of Katrin Bernhardt’s work since her studies, the moment of awakening through reading texts by the feminist gender researcher Judith Butler. It’s sort of the common thread. She threads the works of all artistic genres that she uses like pearls. And the chain becomes long: “I don’t think about whether I can do something or not. I throw myself autodidactically on everything that appeals to me. If something doesn’t work out, I still had a good time and at least I was doing something more productive than just watching TV,” she says.
Secret beginning
Katrin Bernhardt grew up in Forchtenstein; she was about elementary school age when her father Josef, originally a civil engineer, became internationally known for his paintings and art installations. She spends most of her summer vacation at art symposia, and begins to write around the age of eleven. “Very secretly,” she smiles. Once her parents accidentally found a text: to avoid their bias, they showed it to an author friend. He, too, immediately advises to keep going. A large number of literary prizes line her path to this day; so far she has mainly written poetry. In it, she likes to play with ambivalence, lets her readers walk in the sun only to be suddenly surprised by dark shadows. Most recently, the volume of poetry “Aufbruch” (lex liszt12) was published; in it she processes, among other things, encounters with young people with a migration background.
Katrin Bernhardt is not only an apparently constantly bubbling source of creative processes, she is just as goal-oriented and organized: She worked in research, she was an employee in project management – and even a teacher. “I don’t have any five-year plans,” she says of herself. “I prefer to work project-oriented on concrete things that I implement in each case.”
After earning her doctorate in archaeology, Katrin Bernhardt taught at a middle school in Vienna; Kids with flight and discrimination experiences sat in their classes. She took part in the “Teach for Austria” program: after a complex selection process and a week-long crash course, young academics from different areas are employed as teachers in challenging schools. The initiative aims to achieve educational equity for every child. “It was demanding, but I really enjoyed working with the children.” She herself had the opportunity for an educational career, she reflects. “I was the first in the family to get a PhD. But I was just lucky and wanted to give something back.” After the two-year program, she extended it for another two years.
Amazons on the march
Most recently, Katrin Bernhardt devoted herself to writing. Completely new works lie in her drawer. She wrote and illustrated the children’s picture book “Dori Dachs”. “My message in it: We should rest more. There’s less and less idleness, everything is geared towards self-optimization. You can discover a lot, especially when you’re calm.” A girl crocodile also found its way onto paper and is currently illustrating his story.
The author’s first novel, which she realized in Paliano with a grant from the state, is aimed at adults. “It was like lifting a lid. I literally experienced an overflow of ideas,” she enthuses. In her story she reinvents the role of the Amazons; disguised as traders and diplomats, they infiltrate Greek society and empower women. The author does not shy away from picking apart and reassembling myths. But historical carvers are a no-go for them. “I did a lot of research, even trivial things, for example how long it took a boat to get from A to B back then.”
fascination with death
She was 13 when she read Gods, Tombs, and Scholars by C.W. Ceram. “It was clear to me: I’m going to be an archaeologist. This is such a broad study; I’ve traveled a lot, it allows you to think in many dimensions and time horizons, and you learn a lot about people.”
A resulting fascination applies to death and the rituals with which people try to understand and process it. In 2022 she started the interactive project “The last shirt has many pockets” at the Lower Austrian Quarter Festival. It has already taken place in two communities, and more are to follow. She calls on the audience to bring any grave goods they want. The outlines of the guests are drawn on a poster, their fictitious corpse is equipped with the items they have brought with them, photographed and printed out. “The most exciting were the discussions; I didn’t expect them to be so intense.” A funny insight: Coffee was most often brought as a burial gift.
Katrin Bernhardt – she is happily married, by the way – is currently focusing on the search for a publisher for her debut novel and at the same time is opening a new chapter in her life: for the first time as a completely freelance artist. “I’ve had the experience that when you jump, the web appears.”
Contest
© lex flour
The woman from Burgenland is giving away 3 x the volume of poetry “Aufbruch” by Katrin Bernhardt (edition lex liszt 12).
HERE play along!
