Interview: Artist Kavel Rafferty on flea markets, blankets at the Oscars and creating intrigue
“Oh, wait a minute. That cat has got human eyes!”
“Oh, wait a minute. That cat has got human eyes!”
“I’ve always been kind of interested in redacting - all those spy movies where you get government files and all this information is taken out.
“That was kind of an inspiration for what I’m doing. I’m removing the details. So whether that’s a flower image, or a cat image, I’m trying to change how we see them.”
Thanet artist Kavel Rafferty (@kavelrafferty ) is using both what we do and what we don’t see in a picture to create intrigue or to toy with what we would expect from an image… especially an image of a cat.
“There’s a bit of fun involved, especially with the animal pieces,” says Rafferty. “I’m interested in layering up images and hopefully making people look at things in a slightly different way. To do a double-take: ‘Oh, wait a minute. That cat has got human eyes!’. It just makes you feel a bit off. But then, it’s also fun.”
Having moved about, spending time in numerous countries, Rafferty has trawled markets of the world, from Barcelona’s Encants, Los Angeles’ Melrose Trading Post and the Flohmarkt in Berlin to a car boot fair in Herne Bay.
“My work has a slight tinge of nostalgia because of the use of time-worn, second-hand acquisitions. I love a happy accident and want this spontaneity and unplanned nature to show in my work. It is important to me to acknowledge these ‘mistakes’. Creating order from the chaos.”
These finds can include anything from old porno mags and cookery books to gardening publications and knitting pamphlets.
Rafferty says: “These gathered materials are then examined, altered and combined to form a new image, a new narrative. I am looking at what is removed and what remains once an image is doctored, the text is removed or sections are cut - adding and subtracting until I have something I am happy with aesthetically.”
But rescuing images for her own artistic practice has been a fairly recent development.
“Before the pandemic, I went on a residency in Mexico City. I guess I was looking for a change and to work more on my own work, rather than commissioned work. I spent six weeks making collages, painting and going to flea markets, which is my favourite thing, and then came back and we went into lockdown. So I had all this inspiration and all the things I’d just started. I spent the next two years… actually just making work every day that I loved and that I wanted to do, because there was no pressure.”
Rafferty, who has lived in Thanet for nine years, has been a freelance illustrator working with some of the most recognised brands and platforms in the world, from Vogue to FIFA and Penguin Books to Condé Nast Traveller (as well as some amazing alternative brands). But it’s arguably 2023 when the biggest single project landed.
“Most recently, I’ve just done something for the Oscars,” says Rafferty. “It was for the Vanity Fair Bar. They’d commissioned 10 banners by different artists, about women in filmmaking. And those have been made into embroidered… almost like carpets and blankets. So they were on display and then they’ll tour around different film festivals after the Oscars. That’s probably the biggest job I’ve ever had.”
A check down Instagram shows the breadth and variety of projects with which Rafferty has been involved, from designing the bowl artwork of renowned local skater Dan Cates to a new collaboration with fashion designer Peter Jensen.
“I like the idea of applying my work to different situations. So, whether that be a dress, or for a swimming pool, I like the idea of scale, and how that can be interesting and accessible.”
Born into a family of mindful hippies (Rafferty’s term) who moved often, the artist has put down some roots in Margate and started a gallery on Northdown Road aimed at championing the work of female and non-binary artists – it is also a place to display self-works. In addition, the artist is working with the Power of Women festival and Margate Pride and is keen to lend her experience to artists of all sexual orientations and coming from all sorts of backgrounds, pointing out that not everyone follows the same path.
“Something else I’d like to say is that I’m not university-educated,” says Rafferty. “All of this is off my own back. And I just think that’s quite interesting because if any kids think you have to go to university, or you have to do it a certain way, well, no, you don’t. But it is hard graft either way.”
