YORK artist Katherine April explores hideaways and the inextricable link between shelter and nature in her debut solo photographic exhibition at The White Room, Priestley’s at No. 36, Bootham, York.

Breathing Into Bloom combines bold, vibrant new work, full of clarity, with older pieces that have never been shown before; dark and grainy in style while conveying a sense of searching amid bright, quiet spaces.

"My photography centres around the notion of hideaway and shelter, communicating much about the intrinsic link between nature and interiors; being inside looking out," says Katherine, whose show consists predominantly of self portraiture Katherine is interested in our relationship with nature and the overpowering existence and necessity of shelter in the modern world.

Nature haunts her interior scenes as it becomes clear there is no escaping it. "The mind does not rest and often seeks the other, no matter where one is," she says.

"We may strive towards finding hideaways but then pine for time apart from them, envisioning and being drawn to wilderness once more."

In Katherine's work, sunlight pervades; flowers and outlines of trees and sky erase parts of walls and faces; the body and its aspects become animalistic, recalling experiences of the great outdoors gone by.

Katherine, an art history graduate and founder of the Yorkshire Art Journal, is both an arts editor and photographer. She has taken photographs for six years, culminating in her first solo show after building up a body of self-portraiture that has inadvertently begun to map her personal history.

Her work has become an expression of defiance; a celebration of increasing mental strength in the face of adversity. In these photographs, you can read much about the artist’s encounters with anxiety and a relay between calm and fear, strength and bewilderment.

In The White Room, her photographs are piled on to three walls and are complemented by more imagery of hideaways after Katherine invited other contributions.

These interpretations are displayed as small, postcard-sized photographs by Andy Leader; Anna Lilleengen; Anne Rook; Celeste Ortiz; Chris Loves Photography; Dave Ho; Georgie Lacey; Hondartza Fraga; Janey Walklin; Jill Campbell; Kevin Ryan; Lydia Brockless; Madeleine Phiri; Michael Apichella; Michelle Duke; Peiyun Zhang; Rose Claw; Ruby Tingle; Sarah Catterall; Sharon Harvey; Sid Black; Susan Plover; Suvina Singal; Tony Noble and Verity Harr.

All proceeds from postcard sales and ten per cent of the sales profits from Katherine’s own work will go to Parkinson’s UK, a charity close to her heart.

Breathing Into Bloom. Photography by Katherine April, on show at The White Room, Priestley’s at No. 36, Bootham, York, until May 2. Opening hours are Mondays, 11am to 5pm; Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 5.30pm.