CATHERINE KHAMNOUANE

CATHERINE KHAMNOUANE https://catkham.com CATHERINE KHAMNOUANE Mon, 16 Mar 2026 19:35:55 +0000 https://catkham.com en Poked & Prodded http://catkham.com/Poked-Prodded Mon, 16 Mar 2026 19:35:55 +0000 CATHERINE KHAMNOUANE 459306   <img width="1800" height="1200" width_o="1800" height_o="1200" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/12079eb145344b456325bfe27f448b27ed78724cd228d5643550be2686ea52a8/globe.gif" data-mid="1434249" border="0" data-scale="76"/> Poked & Prodded (2026) Navel orange, ink Approximately 4” x 4” x 4”     Poked & Prodded (2026) Navel orange, ink Approximately 4” x 4” x 4”   Ghost http://catkham.com/Ghost Mon, 16 Mar 2026 18:23:45 +0000 CATHERINE KHAMNOUANE 459305                     <img width="2336" height="1750" width_o="2336" height_o="1750" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/f1212ec0398e51bfb68f0784e85375d032819b087e4b95f6187bf95e3fda2a7c/ghost.jpg" data-mid="1434241" border="0" data-scale="69"/> Ghost (2025) Paper, wire, pigment, beeswax8” W x 8” H x 8” D                                         Ghost (2025) Paper, wire, pigment, beeswax8” W x 8” H x 8”... South Wind http://catkham.com/South-Wind Mon, 16 Mar 2026 17:13:06 +0000 CATHERINE KHAMNOUANE 459304                     <img width="2100" height="1391" width_o="2100" height_o="1391" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/f05d4da280854a27093bf126b89a82c69c9fbff13ef7c554a916b9e9d6aad5f6/compass_fire.png" data-mid="1434233" border="0" data-scale="75"/> South Wind (2025) White ash, pigment14” W x 8” H x 2” D                                         South Wind (2025) White ash, pigment14” W x 8” H x 2” D ... Pax Americana http://catkham.com/Pax-Americana Mon, 23 Jun 2025 20:54:28 +0000 CATHERINE KHAMNOUANE 457191                     <img width="1500" height="1072" width_o="1500" height_o="1072" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/e9a592734fbabcd14b5258c4b0408cf8cc60fee61d2131a72fc92afc1bfa01a9/pax02.jpg" data-mid="1411485" border="0" data-scale="69"/><img width="1500" height="1072" width_o="1500" height_o="1072" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/c021ee3c7b960aa282d25be1e5cbd942014cfe73e9afe19fdb16ca49761ccd5d/pax.jpg" data-mid="1411486" border="0" data-scale="69"/> Pax Americana (2022) Canvas, gutter elbow, grass, organic matter, sand, found materials, waterDimensions variable <img width="1470" height="2100" width_o="1470" height_o="2100" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/6d33c86c4e2b0a57f18ee97a1153c03a290baec379ee0992135e7a9f89812f03/drip.jpg" data-mid="1411484" border="0" data-scale="32"/>                 <img width="1225" height="2100" width_o="1225" height_o="2100" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/d7aa1b9762dca88983da865859504fe4703e607678de42d40f6fe53391f2a1d6/pax03.jpg" data-mid="1411487" border="0" data-scale="27"/> In its 54 years of service in the United States Army, Boeing CH-47D Chinook “My Old Lady” long symbolized the destruction and salvation of military might. Over the course of the installation, a canvas sack holding rancid water “lactates” steadily onto a corresponding arrangement below: first ensuring life, then death.                                         Pax Americana (2022) Canvas, gutter elbow, grass, organic... First Strike http://catkham.com/First-Strike Mon, 23 Jun 2025 20:54:14 +0000 CATHERINE KHAMNOUANE 457190                     <img width="1500" height="1005" width_o="1500" height_o="1005" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/1873490494d5e6f1b5f24f0426899227f04923d22d5c0b25108024d525c088a2/cowboys_01.jpg" data-mid="1411483" border="0" data-scale="77"/><img width="1500" height="1004" width_o="1500" height_o="1004" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/8e99598cb6694829c34de6cc0b7b834fccd0653331c17c177983fb18907e1d50/cowboys_02.jpg" data-mid="1411482" border="0" data-scale="77"/> First Strike (2024) Found objects, oriented strand board (OSB), detritus, sawdust24” W x 18” H x 2.5” D In the United States, a country with a relatively short history, militaria has filled the void left by a lack of shared culture. Traces of war can be found in our media¹, in our food², and in our toys. Similarly, the real American Frontier refers to a short period of time (about 30 years after the Civil War) and likely shared little resemblance with its popular depiction. Despite this, the romance of the “Wild West” lives on. It is one of the country’s most enduring myths.  We all love a good story. They excite us; they establish bonds; they help us understand our values. In the Wild West, we see ourselves in the cowboy: low angle, guns drawn, boldy facing down the “bad guy.” First Strike suggests that the cultural conflation of two icons (the Soldier and the Cowboy)³ affects the perception of our role in war. Pressed into a raised mound on an OSB surface⁴, two figures face off, but the protaganist is unclear. To a bystander, the Wild West duel is just a fire fight.  _____________________________________ ¹ Muir and Stockwell. “FCJ-004 The Military-Entertainment Complex: A New Facet of Information Warfare,” The Fibreculture Journal, Issue 1 – 2003. ² Martin, Andrew. “Spam Turns Serious and Hormel Turns Out More,”New York Times, November 2008. ³ BMC Toys manufactures their “army men” with Tim Mee Toy’s (1950 - 2005) original molds. Their “Old West” line renders dueling cowboys in the same green plastic as its classic army men. ⁴ OSB, or oriented strand board, is commonly used for construciton applications like subfloors and wall sheathing. Its presence goes largely unnoticed by a house’s occupants despite its ubiquity.                                         First Strike (2024) Found objects, oriented strand board (OSB),... Half-Staff http://catkham.com/Half-Staff Mon, 23 Jun 2025 19:09:03 +0000 CATHERINE KHAMNOUANE 457189                     <img width="1500" height="1004" width_o="1500" height_o="1004" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/ec1ebb28cc7a8db91f7bcd8f2be1556a7cf2c1d1032f571ae67d2c1afa13ab9f/flag_03.jpg" data-mid="1411478" border="0" data-scale="73"/><img width="1500" height="1005" width_o="1500" height_o="1005" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/e0f0ee0893e624b2bff02aa6216bcdc9a1b8e3a359d3eb00cf4c8246f1fa4e0f/flag_01.jpg" data-mid="1411489" border="0" data-scale="73"/>     Half-Staff (2024) Juniper branch, canvas 52” D x 30” W x 48” H Without Man's intervention, a tree will spend its entire life in one location. It quietly records in each ring every triumph and every catastrophe that transpires around it. Like a tree, a flag is a collector: colored and stained by each victory and atrocity.  Colorless, the United States flag hangs upon a stripped and amputated juniper branch, mourning the inescapable past while it contemplates a future free from unearned honor and the hubris of Man. Half-Staff is born out of two simple gestures: 1) composing and 2) decomposing. Scraps of canvas are sewn together to resemble the US flag. A branch is cut from a tree, pruned, and debarked. They envelop each other and hang high overhead. With these gestures, I question how far an object can stray from its physical and conceptual source while retaining its original meaning. What makes a flag “a flag” rather than an expanse of cloth? What makes a branch “a branch” rather than a bit of wood?  Is it color?  Or origin?  Or Maker?   Somewhere in this gray area, within the inexplicable power of symbols, we will be forced to confront what it means to be a Nation. Half-Staff speculates that this power is not intrinsic but assigned.                                               Half-Staff (2024) Juniper branch, canvas 52” D x... Friendly Fire http://catkham.com/Friendly-Fire Mon, 23 Jun 2025 16:50:54 +0000 CATHERINE KHAMNOUANE 457183                     <img width="1575" height="2100" width_o="1575" height_o="2100" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/c29353f045b58196116d3c441082484ef21f4522d6102ccaa9c0698fd54a83d5/khamnouane_catherine_friendlyfire.jpg" data-mid="1434234" border="0" data-scale="39"/> Friendly Fire (2024) Black ash, poplar, milk paint, cherry pits, sewing pins, assorted veneer16” W x 16” H x 3” D Through a porthole, two players collide. Is that friend or foe? Was that a firework or a missile? Does it matter who holds the gun if you still get shot? In response to the assassination of its major general Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s military retaliated by shooting missiles at Ain al-Asad, a U.S. airbase in Iraq. 109 U.S service members suffered traumatic brain injuries as a result of the strike.¹ Donald Trump originially reported that “no Americans were harmed in [the] attack.” Following updated injury reports from the Defense Department, Trump commented that some U.S. personnel “had headaches and a couple of other things, but [...] it is not very serious."  More than 300 former NFL players have been posthumously diagnosed with a degenerative brain disease known as CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy).² Until an official acknowledgement in 2016, the NFL’s language surrounding the controversy was similarly obtuse.  Friendly Fire commemorates the “collateral damage” in two of the United States’ most beloved pastimes: war and American Football._____________________________________ ¹  Chappel, Bill. “109 U.S. Troops Suffered Brain Injuries In Iran Strike, Pentagon Says,” NPR News, Feburary 2020. ² Sullivan, Becky. “A third of former NFL players surveyed believe they have CTE, researchers find,” NPR News, September 2024.                                         Friendly Fire (2024) Black ash, poplar, milk paint, cherry pits,... Bravo Zulu http://catkham.com/Bravo-Zulu Mon, 23 Jun 2025 16:50:53 +0000 CATHERINE KHAMNOUANE 457182                     <img width="1500" height="2000" width_o="1500" height_o="2000" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/6fe19873b079bdb0f5c9f9440e65846ef70e10c585b0a57c757b4e4a8ddf4735/bravo-zulu.jpg" data-mid="1411435" border="0" data-scale="38"/> Bravo Zulu (2024) Steam-bent ash, milk paint, acrylic paint, gold leaf, wax14” H x 8” W x 3” D Bravo Zulu¹ questions our symbols of victory.A laurel wreath, here in mournful repose, is typically a symbol of triumph, but any act of war demands loss: of life, of territory, of safety, and of innocence and potential. The burden of these losses are shouldered by far more than a conflict’s “winners and losers.” The facade of victory is a clever deception which masks the true cost of military aggression. _____________________________________ ¹ “Bravo Zulu” is a congratulatory phrase originally used in naval communications. To signal a job “well done,” ships hoist the (B)ravo and (Z)ulu flags on their mast.                                         Bravo Zulu (2024) Steam-bent ash, milk paint, acrylic paint,... Home http://catkham.com/Home Mon, 23 Jun 2025 15:42:50 +0000 CATHERINE KHAMNOUANE 457181 Catherine Khamnouane Contact About Archive Instagram     CURRENT WORK           Poked & Prodded  Ghost  South Wind  Bravo Zulu  Friendly Fire  Half-Staff  First Strike  Pax Americana  <img width="1500" height="1005" width_o="1500" height_o="1005" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/e715cc2204557feb911ca728cde3f1ab6ad86fa60ee7b22bc44d7c49c5109e86/flag_01.jpg" data-mid="1411493" border="0" /><img width="1500" height="1005" width_o="1500" height_o="1005" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/1c05b1cf1a1fdeb3a437fc81093258b85b6697584ff9dcd0d7af14b3a8662ab4/pax02_icon.jpg" data-mid="1411497" border="0" /><img width="1500" height="1005" width_o="1500" height_o="1005" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/6cc40c9b71426e68450313fb60a6f04f4cf11c5047a9de4e4ffb86e294b123ca/bz_icon.jpg" data-mid="1411498" border="0" /><img width="1750" height="1173" width_o="1750" height_o="1173" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/09aa61ce1c9940ef894f96cacd29ac7984225b9309ed30a45be2c49c05945d2e/ghost_cropped.jpg" data-mid="1434251" border="0" /><img width="1500" height="1005" width_o="1500" height_o="1005" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/9853e63b789b37779563744c200a534fbfe2be4369a11ffa24b45825ce01ba58/compass_icon.jpg" data-mid="1434250" border="0" /> Catherine Khamnouane Contact About Archive Instagram     CURRENT WORK           Poked... UNDER CONSTRUCTION http://catkham.com/UNDER-CONSTRUCTION Mon, 23 Jun 2025 15:40:24 +0000 CATHERINE KHAMNOUANE 457180 Catherine Khamnouane’s new website is coming soon! Catherine Khamnouane’s new website is coming soon!