Helena Goldwater has been making performance art since 1989 and paintings since 2003. A concern with the performative in her paintings is evident and in both practices she is also interested in a devotion to craft. She often makes performances that last many hours and her paintings can take months to make – this dedication to the process is a way of exploring how concepts can be developed over time to inhabit something ‘other’ than the human realm, transforming the everyday into a spiritual act. In her paintings, water and paint are the alchemical materials. Goldwater graduated from Goldsmith’s Fine Art in 1989 and the Slade School of Art Fine Art (Media) in 1992.