Kathryn Rodrigues - Visual Narratives

Artist:  Kathryn Rodrigues
Title:   What About my Dreams?, 2022
Size:   Approx.12 x 12"
Print Type:  Archival pigment print from medium format film
Price: $400

ABOUT THE WORK

(This piece is one of three from Kathryn that is currently being exhibited in the PCNW gallery as part of our 27th juried exhibition, Visual Narratives. On view until December 14, 2025.)

Growing up with a father in the military who worked for the state department, I have repeated the process of disassembling, reassembling and acclimating my home across five different countries. I am fascinated by the ambiguity of simultaneous belonging and longing and separation and closeness that I have felt my entire life. Throughout my multinational childhood, interactions with the natural world have always served as a balm to feeling rootless, encouraging a sense of closeness and grounding.

The series "Homesick" examines the contrast between my transient childhood and current life parenting in a Chicago suburb. I’m particularly interested in understanding the emotional connections we form with our domestic spaces. While reckoning with putting down roots for the first time, I also struggled with the isolation and societal pressures surrounding caregiving. I began this series of performative self-portraits taken in my yard and around the exterior edges of my house. I document the process of orienting myself to the space and the objects found within, attempting to understand and memorize the landscape. I explore the intersection of public and private domestic spaces, using my body as a cartographic tool for delineating and transgressing edges and boundaries. The images represent the range of emotions present as I wander through the space, from dark humor and absurdity to yearning and hopefulness. The work celebrates moments of attempted connection and stillness after a lifetime of movement.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Kathryn Rodrigues

Selected Exhibitions
2025 Visual Narratives, Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA
DIY, Terrain Biennial, Chicago, IL
Dislocated, Midwest Nice Art
Every Day Has Something In It Whose Name is Forever, Perspective Gallery, Evanston, IL
Photography Now, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL
Lens 2025, Perspective Gallery, Evanston, IL
No Ordinary Light, Dank Haus, Chicago, IL
Leftovers, The Curated Fridge, Somerville, MA
2024 Portraits: Beyond the Exterior, Analog Forever Magazine
Bridge_Work, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
Center Forward 2024, Center for Fine Art Photography, Ft. Collins, CO
PhotoMidwest Biennial, Madison, WI
None Exactly Like This, Kinhouse, Ft. Wayne, IN
Context 2024, Filter Space, Chicago, IL
2023 International Juried Exhibition, Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA
The Poetry of the Ordinary, PhotoPlace Gallery, Middlebury, VT
Private Space, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
Exposure 2023, Lesley University, Cambridge, MA
Filter Photo At Night: Women’s History Month, Chicago, IL
Women on Women, Southeast Center for Photography, Greenville, SC
Context 2023, Filter Space, Chicago, IL
Joyce Elaine Grant Photography Exhibition, Texas Woman’s University, Denton, TX
2022 (Re)Connect. Alumni Biennial Exhibition. Massachusetts College of Art. Boston, MA
Visions in Photography: Stories of Now. University of North Dakota. Grand Forks, ND
Searching for Life: Regrowth and Display. Xavier University. Cincinnati, OH
Infinite Weight/Present Histories. University of West Georgia. Carrollton, GA

Vicinity 2022. Perspective Gallery. Evanston, IL
Suburban Nostalgia. The Martin. Chicago, IL
Selected Awards + Residencies
Lensculture Critics’ Choice Editor’s Pick. 2025
Illinois Arts Council Creative Catalyst Grant. 2024
Review Santa Fe Photo Symposium. 2024
Lensculture Art Photography Editor’s Pick. 2023
Photo Lucida, Critical Mass 2023 finalist
Survive and Thrive Grant. Changing Worlds. July 2022
CPS Lives residency at Sullivan High School. 2021-22, 22-23
Filter Photo, Honorable Mention. Member’s Exhibition. December 2020
Marwen, Teaching Artist residency. Spring 2019
Ragdale Foundation residency. 2008
Ragdale Foundation Chicago Connections Fellowship runner-up. 2007
Selected Presentations + Publications
Fraction Magazine Issue 182, July 2025
F-Stop Magazine InHabit, March 2025
Bridge Journal, Vol 24, Issue 1. 2024
Boston Globe. Exposure 2023 Review. August 2023
What Will You Remember? Exposure 2023 Review. August 2023
Float Magazine. Home Is Where. Summer 2023
Fraction Magazine. Issue 167 15th Anniversary Issue. June 2023
Lenscratch. “Love’s Labors: Kathryn Rodrigues, The Witching Hour” September 2021
Radical Cartography November 2008

Education
Massachusetts College of Art
Masters of Science in Art Education
Certification in Visual Arts, grades 5-12
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
College of Fine and Applied Arts
Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Photography