She has exhibited widely, both nationally and internationally, since the early 1990s, and was commissioned to create a new video work for the opening of Walsall's New Gallery in 2000, presenting a unique portrait of the area.

A solo exhibition followed at London's Jerwood Gallery in 2001, and she represented the UK at the 10th Indian Triennial, with two series of work relating to Indian cinema, created during her stay in Bombay.

Yass's recent work was influenced by a stay in India

Yass has a unique method of combining two identical photographic images, one on positive film, and the other on positive film presented as a negative.

The effect on the photographs, which are presented as transparencies in lightboxes, heightens the colours and turns any light areas into an array of glowing blues - a technique Yass discovered by accident at college.

She specialises in exploring the psychology of spaces, and in 1994 worked in a psychiatric hospital in south London to produce a series of eight lightboxes called Corridor, which were eerie representations of institutional space.

She then moved onto architectural subjects, such as Welsh steel mills, the thermal baths at Baden-Baden, Japanese dormitory capsules, and in 1999, a series called Toilets.

Hema Malani by Catherine Yass

Yass, who is 39, also produced a series of lightboxes depicting portraits of Indian celebrities, called Star.

The portraits were presented alongside four images of the empty cinemas which the actors will eventually fill with their screen presence, and are intended to question whether it is possible to distinguish between the person and the icon.

Descent: HQ3 2002
Ilfochrome transparency, lightbox
112.5 x 141 x 12.5 cm
Courtesy Asprey Jacques, London

Hema Malini 2001
Ilfochrome transparency, lightbox
88 x 131 x 12.5 cm
Courtesy Asprey Jacques, London

Catherine Yass 2002
Photo by Richard Kelly
Courtesy Asprey Jacques, London