Katrin Spranger is an environmental artist creating glass and metal sculptures dealing with environmental issues, depletion of resources and dystopian narratives.
I am a London-based multidisciplinary artist working across sculpture, sculptural painting, and performance. My practice is a visceral response to the climate crisis, addressing ecological collapse, plastic pollution, oil dependency, and water scarcity. I explore the entanglement of body, material, and transformation, where substance becomes both message and medium.
Material innovation is central to my practice. I work with salvaged plastics, copper, bones, taxidermy, organic detritus, and digital components. I also use chemically active or symbolic substances like copper sulphate, sulphuric acid, calcium chloride, crude oil, duckweed, and dehydrated honey. These materials are chosen not only for their physical properties but also for their ability to evoke toxicity, decay, impermanence, and transformation.
My processes fuse sculpture, alchemy, and performance. I use electroforming—a copper-plating technique—to fossilise organic matter, creating metallic forms that feel unearthed rather than made. I’ve created melting crude oil jewellery worn directly on the skin and 3D-printed edible honey sculptures—works that confront impermanence and consumption in real time.
In my large-scale 3D paintings, I construct wearable body-sculptures from salvaged plastic waste, taxidermy, and natural remains. These hybrid beings are activated through ritualistic performances, becoming both costumed protagonists and mark-making tools. After the performance, the canvas returns to the studio, where I integrate the sculptural remnants into the final work, preserving both gesture and aftermath.
Being a passionate educator, I also co-founded the K2 Academy of Contemporary Jewellery at Cockpit Studios, offering concept-led jewellery courses that challenge traditional materials and modes of making.
