Instagram story viewer> @katmo_katlom> Posts

Katia Lom

@katmo_katlom

438

followers

739

following

Artist, filmmaker and beekeeper based in London.
Posting my doodles and pics, and sharing some of my life with the bees @katias_local_honey .

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

During Covid, someone left a stash of DVDs outside their home. I gladly brought them to mine, and they sat there for months until I fell ill and was bedridden following an intensive archive producing gig.

I could not have expected that being sick in bed would transform my world so deeply when I began to watch the “Clayhanger” TV series from the 1970s that had been part of the giveaway pile. Even as I began to feel better, I stayed in bed to finish watching the whole thing (26 episodes).

I set off from this experience with two questions: who is Arnold Bennett and why don’t I know about him?
Fast-forward to 2026, and I have presented three papers on Bennett, all the while working towards answering those questions, two for the Arnold Bennett Society, and one for the Thomas Hardy Society.

As you will tell from the photos, I have never quite grown up to full height…and it was daunting to be one of the very few speakers presenting not attached to an academic or heritage institution for this year’s 27th International Thomas Hardy Conference and Festival, with keynote speakers including Richard Franklin, Professor Mark Ford, Jackie Walker, Professor Roger Ebbatson and Dr Trish Ferguson. I am grateful for the trust the Thomas Hardy Society had in my research.

The story continues and I look forward to seeing how my research on Bennett continues to unfold.

Photos: credit The Thomas Hardy Society

#literature #research #thomashardy #arnoldbennett #conference #dorset #stokeontrent by @katmo_katlom

11

0

16 days ago

Should art be political?

This question has been bugging me as the soundbites and headlines have been assaulting us these last couple of weeks. I began to reflect on an artform that shaped my life. I studied ballet from the age of five, and went on to study choreography at Swarthmore College where I encountered the works of George Balanchine for the first time.

Balanchine was a 20th Century ballet dancer and choreographer originally from Georgia who emigrated to the US and transformed the artform. He can be credited for contributing to why we see thin and athletic dancers on stage today and why we now think of ballet dancers as athletes.

In many of his ballets, dancers danced in the clothing they wore to class: leotards and stockings for the women, t-shirts and leggings for the men. There were no sets. A general light grid. You could perform his pieces anywhere.

When Balanchine began to build his ballet company in the US he wanted the company to be American. This was not a DEI exercise. He saw America as a diverse country. As a result, he found ballet talent across indigenous communities and people of colour as well as communities of European origin. The first native American ballerina was in his company.

In 1957, he choreographed “Agon”, featuring at his heart a duet between a black man and a white woman. They touch and intersect each other, skin to skin. This is at a time of segregation in America. It was billed as an “abstract” ballet.

One of the earliest ballets in the 19th Century canon is “Giselle”. It was staged in 1841 in Paris. Around this time, theatre is a space where sex work and art intersect. Many ballet dancers were sex workers. Their customers sat in the audience.

“Giselle” follows its titular character, a young peasant girl, who dies of a broken heart after a Prince deceives her when he pretends to be a peasant for his amusement. Giselle returns in spirit form in the forest as a “Wilis”, a spirit that kills all men that enter the forest at night.

Ballet began its life when Louis XIV represented himself as the son God Apollo to his subjects at court.

#art #politics #ballet #balanchine #Giselle by @katmo_katlom

5

1

22 days ago

My dog is an artist 🤣. 17 years young 🎂

#selfportrait #dogwalking #streetarteverywhere #banksy #graffiti by @katmo_katlom

6

0

a month ago

Still life. Outside inside.

#stillife #photography #london by @katmo_katlom

3

0

a month ago

I have returned from The 27th International Thomas Hardy Conference and Festival in Dorchester where I presented my paper on “Thomas Hardy’s influence on Arnold Bennett and the pantheistic view of nature as a moral guide into the Modernist age”.

It was both a humbling and exciting experience to be presenting my research alongside professors and doctoral students from around the world, including some remarkable academic institutions and academics whose work I deeply admire.

It was wonderful to learn and share ideas, and leave with renewed momentum with my research and writing on all things Bennett.

I must extend my thanks to @hardysociety and Dr. Mary Rimmer for the opportunity to share my work.

I must also thank friends and trusted confidents who read my work ahead of my talk!

Coming to Dorchester and Dorset for the first time made me understand Thomas Hardy’s novels in a new perspective, with a deepened respect for how he so acutely captured the landscape and its people in his writing. It was a magical experience to arrive in the evening and walk into the Roman Amphitheatre, covered in grass “that formed waves under the brush of the wind, returning to the attentive ear Aeolian modulations”. And the streets were lined by Lyme trees.

#ThomasHardy #ArnoldBennett #Dorset #Dorchester #Casterbridge #Literature #Conference #Roman by @katmo_katlom

11

0

3 months ago

Did you say weekend?

#summer #heatwave #pram #doglife by @katmo_katlom

12

0

3 months ago

This is a happy update! With the passing of the summer solstice it felt apt to share that Kaiser was diagnosed over a year ago in November that he had cancer in the bladder that had spread to many parts of his body. No treatment was viable but palliative measures. On top of vet medications we topped up with CBD and fenbendzadole.

By May the vet was concerned that Kaiser was still knocking about and politely asked for us to book a check up to assess "quality of life" (i.e. consider having him put to sleep). Needless to say he is far from ready yet somehow...

Anyone who knows Kaiser will know he's a tank and a beast combined who just keeps going!

Arthritis and bladder issues does mean he's slowing down and needs to go to the bathroom every 2 hours (nights included). But he's so happy still and so full of life.

This is him this morning enjoying the sun and cool before the heatwave.

Thank you to everyone who has helped us and who makes Kaiser's days so special! You know who you are and we know it has helped him immensely in this final chapter.

X

#kaiser #doglover by @katmo_katlom

20

3

4 months ago

Bumblebee in someone's front garden.

#northlondon #bumblebee #gardens #heatwave #photography by @katmo_katlom

3

3

4 months ago

Crossroads

#sunrise #london #dogs #photography by @katmo_katlom

5

0

4 months ago

Light and shadow.

#summer #heatwave #blackandwhite #photography #trees by @katmo_katlom

4

0

5 months ago

A very dear friend saved this sculpture I made as a student on my BA course, just shy of 21...I was going to throw it in the skip ...he sent me this photo recently and it feels like coming back to another lifetime. Sculpture was such a visceral form, and I remember loving to work with stoneware. And the hands remind me of the anatomy, sculpture and drawing classes I had the opportunity to take with the wonderful John Horn at @pafacademy .

#art #sculpture #clay by @katmo_katlom

5

0

5 months ago

Very excited to share that I will be reading a paper on my latest research on Arnold Bennett, this time on the influence of Thomas Hardy on his writing, in Stoke-on-Trent in June. It is a real honour for the Arnold Bennett Society to invite me to present at their yearly conference once more this year. I look forward to being back in Stoke and sharing the brilliance of AB's work.

Picture from @nationalportraitgallery

#ArnoldBennett #Stokeontrent #thomashardy #englishliterature #potteries by @katmo_katlom

9

1

5 months ago