Typing My Heart Out - Keira Rathbone

About this event

It was in a charity shop in Poole, Dorset that Keira fell for her first typewriter; a cute orange “Silver Reed 100”. She wanted to tap the keys, watch the mechanism and see those marks appear instantly on the page before her. But with little to say, she felt somewhat hard done-by. Later, at art school in Bristol she returned to the typewriter, asking, "why can't I use it anyway? If not for words, then for mark-making?" and proceeded to type a row of the same character. How smart they looked like that, forming their own pattern. Moving away from language and words now, Keira began
to see another way. She was getting her own way with a machine...how satisfying.

Keira continued using typewriters for mark-making, developing a process which evolved into more complex images as her abilities grew, and she began to see the potential of expressing herself against the restrictions of the machine whilst exploring the possibilities of actually developing a unique and competent art style and process.

In this ten year retrospective show, Keira presents a selection of original typings, installations, limited edition prints and collectibles, as well as exclusive personalised Valentine's Day hearts available on request and typed live at the event.