Kat Bawden

Kat Bawden (she/they) is an artist, educator, and curator in Chicago. She works across photography, video, performance, and light-based installations to explore the relationship between the body, traumatic memory, and perception. Attuned to the physiological and emotional effects of light, Kat constructs immersive visual environments that echo between presence and memory, inviting viewers into charged spaces of intimacy, disorientation, and reflection.

Kat has exhibited and/or performed at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the International Center of Photography, EXPO Chicago, the International Museum of Surgical Science, the Design Museum of Chicago, Roots & Culture, Iceberg Projects, Filter Photo, and others. She is a recipient of an Individual Artists Grant from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. Her work has been featured in Artforum, Der Grief, Lenscratch, Chicago Reader, Chicago Sun-Times, and others.

Kat holds an MFA in Photography from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a B.A. in political philosophy and environmental science from University of Michigan–Ann Arbor. She runs Murmuration, an exhibition space and artist residency.