Prayers of a Mother deals with family relationships, religion and changing social roles. It is based on a video interview of Murphy’s mother. The installation consists of five video projections and one audio track. The central projection is an edited sequence of a close up of her mother’s hands holding her prayer books and rosary beads.

The viewer hears the sound of the mother’s voice, expressing her prayers and hopes for her children and family through the Catholic faith. The four remaining projections are of Murphy’s seven siblings and herself reacting to their mother’s words.

Britney Love is a result of Murphy’s interaction and friendship with an eleven year old girl whom she met while living in Glasgow. The subject, Brittaney Love, and Murphy shared a fascination with pop culture and the latest pop star, who happened to share her first name: Britney Spears. The relationship between Brittaney the child and Britney the pop star resulted in this ‘pop video style documentary’.

The installation comprises of a video projection, which runs from the ceiling to the floor. The projection is a looped video of Brittaney’s choreographed dance to the song Crazy by Britney Spears. In front of the projection are six monitors set up in a v-shape on the floor, mimicking a pop video or a cat walk. Each monitor shows the same image of Brittaney dancing in different leotards, interacting with the camera and behind the scene shots. An audio soundtrack features the subject talking about her life, school, Britney Spears and her hopes and dreams for the future.

Joe Hill is a two channel video installation. The viewer witnesses the private act of a man, alone, in the middle of the night, creating a video to leave to his family. This video carries his testimony; the song he wants played at his funeral: “Joe Hill”, performed by Paul Robeson. The solitary act of this man’s demonstration is recorded by two cameras: the one the subject sets up to record himself, and a second, more distantly placed and controlled by Murphy.

Kate Murphy’s self-portrait Cry me a future, pays homage to festive periods spent alone reminiscing about the past and wondering what the future holds. Murphy’s recording of a visit to a psychic alludes to our desire to search for answers of what awaits us in the future while exploiting societal anxiety about relationships, money, grief and loss.

I've been to Paradise plays with the familiar genres of pop video and home movie. Murphy is the artist turned pop star, belting out Never Been to Me by Charlene on a beige leatherette lounge. With delicious irony and confidence Murphy mocks and subvert the language of aesthetics of top of the pops.

Pixi Fotos is part of a series of documentary style works based on Vicki, a study of a woman and mother in Australian Suburban Culture. Vicki is the matriarch, the nurturer and the homemaker of her family. She is a young mother of three children and wife to a removalist. Vicki prides herself on her home, she participated in a six week craft course in Queanbeyan after her first child was born and since then hasn’t stopped creating. Pixi Fotos lets the viewer watch from the corner of Vicki's living room as she sets up a homemade photographic studio to avoid paying big bucks down at the local shopping centre.

Whispering Thunder
2001
a collaboration with Peter Volich,
Rebecca Rutter and Peat Moss

single channel digital video
soundtrack
4 minutes

Midnight Snack
2001
a collaboration with Prudence Murphy

single channel digital video
stereo sound
52 minutes