Born 11 November 1972
Sarteano, Tuscany, Italy
Died 23 January 2012
Sydney, Australia
Born in Sarteano, Tuscany in 1972, Katthy Cavaliere migrated from Italy to Australia with her family when she was four years old. She attended University of NSW Art and Design (then known as College of Fine Arts) in Sydney and was a recipient of the Helen Lempriere Travelling Art Scholarship in 2000, enabling her studies in Italy at the Accademia di Belle Arti, Brera, Milano. During this time in Italy she studied under Marina Abramović. Upon returning to Australia in 2004, Cavaliere staged a survey exhibition called Suspended Moment, which toured to regional galleries in NSW.
Cavaliere’s 2008 video performance, Loved, was included in The 54th Venice Biennale, 2011.
Following her death in January 2012, the Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) presented her retrospective Loved in 2015-16. Curated by Daniel Mudie Cunningham, it toured to Carriageworks in 2016 and was accompanied by a major monograph.
It was Cavaliere’s desire to bring to light what she did not remember of her early years in Sarteano that motivated her lifelong project of packing, storing and transporting the wreckage of her personal possessions, and transforming it into performance installation works that have been exhibited in solo and group shows internationally.
Cavaliere’s work is held in the collections of Art Gallery of NSW, Art Gallery of South Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Old and New Art, Artbank, University of Queensland Art Museum, Monash Gallery of Art and numerous regional galleries.
Katthy Cavaliere’s archive is held in the National Art Archive at the Art Gallery of NSW.
In 2018, a major fellowship was established in her name, Suspended Moment: The Katthy Cavaliere Fellowship which was adapted into an exhibition that is touring to eight venues through Museums and Galleries NSW in 2022-2024
She was included in the National Gallery of Australia’s Know My Name exhibition.
2001
Advanced Course in Visual Arts, Fondazione Ratti, Como. Supervisor: Marina Abramović
2000-01
Accademia di Belle Arti, Brera, Milan, Italy
1994-97
Master of Art (Photomedia), UNSW Art & Design (formerly College of Fine Arts), Sydney
1990-93
Bachelor of Fine Arts (Media Art), UNSW Art & Design (formerly College of Fine Arts), Sydney
2022
The Window (with Del Kathryn Barton), Goulburn Regional Art Gallery
2019
Katthy Cavaliere, Goulburn Regional Art Gallery
2018
Nest, Wagga Wagga Art Gallery
2017
Memory and Belonging: the archive of Katthy Cavaliere, Research Library, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
2016
Katthy Cavaliere: Loved, curated by Daniel Mudie Cunningham, Carriageworks, Sydney
Katthy Cavaliere: Photographs and Drawings, curated by Grace Burzese, Galerie Pompom, Sydney
2015
Katthy Cavaliere: Loved, curated by Daniel Mudie Cunningham, Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart
2008
Day Dreams, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery
Day Dreams, Jean Bellette Gallery, Hill End
2007
Untitled Home, MOP Projects, Sydney
2006
Looking for Fisher’s Ghost, Campbelltown Visitors Information Centre Quondong
Looking for Fisher’s Ghost, Glenalvon Stables Museum, Drawing Room, Campbelltown
2004-05
Suspended Moment, Museums & Galleries NSW Regional Touring Exhibition: Goulburn Regional Art Gallery; Campbelltown Arts Centre; Bathurst Regional Art Gallery
2003
Spirito del Paese: Mother and Child, Via Farini Gallery, Milan
Spirito del Paese: Mother and Child, Theatre, Il Teatro degli Arrischianti, Sarteano, Tuscany
1999
Story of a Girl, Artspace, Sydney
1998
Utterance, First Draft, Sydney
1996
Conceal, Particle Contemporary Exhibition Space, Sydney
2024
In Essence: Contemporary Photography and Film from the Collection, Wollongong Art Gallery
Stuffed, Bolstered and Upholstered, curated by Lee Kinsella, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia
Collection in Focus, Goulburn Regional Art Gallery
Origins, curated by Lee Kinsella, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia
2023
Death Love / Art, curated by Max Dingle, Shoalhaven Regional Gallery
Suspended Moment, MGNSW & Carriageworks touring exhibition curated by Daniel Mudie Cunningham, Redcliffe Art Gallery, Araluen Arts Centre, Maitland Regional Art Gallery, Goulburn Regional Art Gallery
2022
Suspended Moment, MGNSW & Carriageworks touring exhibition curated by Daniel Mudie Cunningham, Wollongong Art Gallery, Manly Art Gallery & Museum, Glasshouse Regional Gallery, Mildura Arts Centre
Thinking Through Pink, curated by Sally Gray, Wollongong Art Gallery
2020
Know My Name, National Gallery of Australia
Fabrications, Wollongong Art Gallery
Hazelhurst 20 Years, Hazelhurst Arts Centre
2019
Borrowed Scenery, Campbelltown Arts Centre
Goulburn Bustle, Goulburn Regional Art Gallery
Robyn Stacey: As Still as Life, Monash Gallery of Art
Here We Are, Art Gallery of NSW
The Four Letter Word, Artbank
2018
Antipodean Emanations: Cameraless Photographs from Australia and New Zealand, Monash Gallery of Art
The Legacy Continues, Monash Gallery of Art
Empire, Macquarie University Art Gallery
Love, Immigration Museum, Melbourne
After Dark: Nocturnes from the Heide Collection, Heide Museum of Modern Art
Collectors’ Space, May Space
2017
New Acquisitions Collection, Wollongong Art Gallery
2016
The Waiting Room, curated by Daniel Mudie Cunningham, Artbank, Sydney
2015
Che Cosa, curated by David Capra, Wollongong Art Gallery
Taken to Task, curated by Dara Gill, Kudos Gallery
2014
Loose Canon, curated by Daniel Mudie Cunningham, Artbank
2013
Ghosting Machine, curated by Catherine Benz, Delmar Gallery
2011
54th Venice Biennale, Italian Pavilion: Italy in the World, Venice, Italy
2010
Fishers Ghost Art Prize, Campbelltown Arts Centre
The Blake Prize Tour Delmar Trinity Gallery Sydney, Tweed River Art Gallery, Western Plains Cultural Centre Dubbo, Port Macquarie Hastings Regional Gallery
2009
The Blake Prize, National Art School Sydney, Ararat Regional Art Gallery
Art on Paper, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery & Arts Centre
Doug Moran Photographic Prize, State Library of New South Wales
I Think I Shall Never See a Billboard as Lovely as a Tree, Hazelhurst Arts Centre
Newtown Diaries, Delmar Gallery, Ashfield
2008
24/25, curated by Blair French, Artspace
Fisher’s Ghost Art Award, Campbelltown Arts Centre
Shelf Life, Delmar Gallery
Terminus Projects: Bazaar 08, Clare Hotel, Sydney
2007
Fisher’s Ghost Art Award, Campbelltown Arts Centre
2005
Fisher’s Ghost Art Award, Campbelltown Arts Centre
2004
Conversion: Art in Public Sites in Goulburn, Goulburn Regional Art Gallery
2002
Tracce di un Seminario, ViaFarini Gallery, Milan
Lavori in corso, curated by Roberto Pinto, Benedetto Marcello 6, Milan
2001
Idea Bank, Ex Chiesa di San Francesco, Como
2000
Emporio: Parte prima, curated by Guido Molinari, ViaFarini Gallery, C/o (Care of), Milan
Helen Lempriere Travelling Art Scholarship, Artspace (Winner)
Elsewhere, Gallery 19, Sydney
The Doors Show, Hoist Gallery, Watt Space, Newcastle, NSW
1999
Helen Lempriere Travelling Art Scholarship, Artspace, Sydney (Highly Commended)
Fifty Bucks, Gallery 19, Sydney
Archival Purposes, First Draft
Glow-Bytes short film night, Performance Space
1998
Helen Lempriere Travelling Art Scholarship, Artspace, Sydney (Highly Commended)
Four on the Floor, Gallery 19, Sydney
1997
Helen Lempriere Travelling Art Scholarship, Artspace, Sydney (Highly Commended)
Fictional Extremities, Arthaus, Sydney
1996
Master of Art and BFA (Hons) Graduating Exhibition, UNSW Art & Design (formerly College of Fine Arts), Sydney
Group Exhibition, Grosvenor Place, Sydney
New South Wales Travelling Art Scholarship, COFA Gallery, UNSW Art & Design (formerly College of Fine Arts), Sydney
Zero k used, H.R. Gallop Gallery, Wagga Wagga
1995
The Young Italo/Australian Achievement Awards, Festival House, Sydney
Sfumato – an Italo/Australian Exhibition, Macquarie University
Mobius – The Loop, COFA Gallery, UNSW Art & Design (formerly College of Fine Arts)
1994
Sfumato – an Italo/Australian Exhibition, University of New South Wales Library; Space YZ, Western Sydney University
New South Wales Travelling Art Scholarship, COFA Gallery, UNSW Art & Design (formerly College of Fine Arts), Sydney
1993
On Masse – Graduating Exhibition, UNSW Art & Design (formerly College of Fine Arts)
2011
Arts NSW, Quick Response Grant
2010
Residency at The Depot, First Draft, Sydney
2009
Australia Council for the Arts, New Work Grant
NAVA Marketing Grant
Residency at Artspace, Sydney
Residency at Stone Villa Studios, Sydney
Residency at Queen Street, Fraser Studios, Sydney
2008
Residency at Murray’s Cottage, Hill End
2005
Mamma Lena Cultural Award
Residency at Murray’s Cottage, Hill End
Residency at Bathurst Regional Art Gallery
Residency at Campbelltown Arts Centre
2004
Residency at Goulburn Regional Art Gallery
2003
NAVA Marketing Grant
Visual Arts & Craft Skills and Arts Development
Australia Council for the Arts, Milan Studio Residency
2000
Helen Lempriere Travelling Art Scholarship
Artbank
Art Gallery of NSW
Art Gallery of South Australia
Bathurst Regional Art Gallery
Campbelltown Arts Centre
Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art, University of Western Australia
Gold Coast Gallery at HOTA
Goulburn Regional Gallery
Heide Museum of Modern Art
Maitland Regional Art Gallery
Macquarie University
Manly Art Gallery & Museum
Monash Gallery of Art
Murray Art Museum Albury
Museum of Old and New Art
National Gallery of Victoria
Orange Regional Gallery
Shoalhaven Regional Art Gallery
Sydney Grammar School
Trinity Grammar School
Tweed Regional Gallery
University of New South Wales
University of Queensland Art Museum
University of Technology Sydney
Wagga Wagga Art Gallery
Western Plains Cultural Centre
Wollongong Art Gallery
Private Collections in Australia and Italy
Andrew Frost, ‘Missing Picture: Why Australia Needs its own Turner Prize’, The Guardian, 6 April 2019 online
Giorgia Alù, Journeys Exposed: Women’s Writing, Photography and Mobility, London: Routledge, 2019
Daniel Mudie Cunningham, ‘Curating Grief’, in Jacqueline Millner & Catriona Moore (eds). Feminist Perspectives on Art: Contemporary Outtakes. London: Routledge, 2018
Bronwyn Watson, ‘Public Works: Nest 2’, The Weekend Australian, 13-14 May 2017 and online
Gina Mobayed, ‘Things that Quicken the Heart’, Sturgeon, Issue 6, 2016, p93 and online
Andrew Frost, ‘Trace, Breath & Touch: Katthy Cavaliere at Carriageworks’, Art Monthly, Issue 293, October 2016
John McDonald, ‘Packing a Punch’, Sydney Morning Herald: Spectrum, 27-28 August 2016, p14 and online
Briony Downes, ‘Katthy Cavaliere: Loved’, Art Guide Australia, January/February 2016, Issue 99, p54
Liza Dezfouli, ‘Katthy Cavaliere: Loved’, Beat, March 2016, online
Gina Fairley, ‘Katthy Cavaliere: Loved’, ArtsHub, 1 March 2016
Sarah Kanowski, ‘Katthy Cavaliere: Loved’ [interview with Daniel Mudie Cunningham], ABC Radio National, 27 January 2016, online
Monica Tan, ‘Katthy Cavaliere: Exploring Grief and Mortality in a Poignant Retrospective’, The Guardian Australia, 17 December 2015, online
Debbie Cuthbertson, ‘Artist’s Spirit Present in Posthumous MONA Exhibition’, Sydney Morning Herald, 30 November 2015, online
Andrew Harper, ‘A Matter of Life and Death’, The Mercury: Tasweekend, 28-29 November 2015, p20
Andrew Frost, ‘Loose Canon – reflecting the taste of the public, not art insiders’, The Guardian Australia, 17 September 2014, online
Sharne Wolff, ‘Loose Canon’, The Art Life, 29 August 2014, online
Tracey Clement, ‘Artbank opens the vault’, Art Guide Australia, 20 August 2014
Daniel Mudie Cunningham, ‘Katthy Cavaliere’ [obituary], Art & Australia, vol. 49, no. 4, 2012
Daniel Mudie Cunningham, ‘Sculpting with light to illuminate life’s shadows’ [obituary], Sydney Morning Herald, 4 April 2012 and online
‘Directors Cut’, The Blake Prize, 2011
Priscilla Bourne, radio interview with Katthy Cavaliere on 2SER, Sydney, 2009, online here and online here
Christopher Allen, ‘Want of Spirit: The Blake Prize’, The Weekend Australian Review, 26 September 2009, p12-13
Fenella Kernebone, segment on 24/25 at Artspace, Sunday Arts, ABC TV, 1/16 November 2008
Miriam Siers, ‘Discovering the Magic of Camera Obscura’, Western Advocate, 3 April 2008, p7
Richard Perram, ‘Good response to upside down inside out workshops’, Weekend Advocate, 15 March 2008, p14
Richard Perram, ‘The Arts Series of exciting workshops for high school students’, Weekend Advocate, 9 Feb 2008, p12
Daniel Mudie Cunningham, untitled home [exhibition catalogue], MOP Projects, Sydney
Trevor Langlands, radio interview on 2MCR, Campbelltown, 2006
Melanie Darmody, ‘Ghostly Tales in Big talking Book’, Macarthur Chronicle, 30 May 2006, p22
Chiara Pazzano, interview with Katthy Cavaliere on SBS Italian Radio, 2005
Armando Tornari, ‘Mamma Lena Foundation Cultural Prize’, La Fiamma’, 27 July 2005, p18
Sarah Gurich, ‘Artists perform at Bathurst Regional Art Gallery’, Weekend Advocate’, 14 May 2005
Laura Parker, ‘Real Life on Show, Macarthur Advertiser, 19 January 2005, p1/17
Jennifer Lamb, ‘Room for a Story: Performance Art Comes to the Gallery’, Goulburn Post, 21 May 2004
Darryl Fernance, ‘Art exhibition with a twist’, Goulburn Post, 31 May 2004, p1
Television interview with Katthy Cavaliere, Tele-Italian News, Sarteano, Tuscany, 20 August 2003
Mattioli, ‘Le performance di Katthy Cavaliere, l’Australiana nata a Sarteano’, Centritalia, September 2003, p24
Bologni, ‘Le installazioni di Katthy Cavaliere’, Montepiesi, July-August 2003, p15
Bologni, ‘Arte Moderna’, Montepiesi, September-October 2003, p20
Peccatori, M.V. ‘Sarteano ultimo giorno per la mostra di Katthy Cavaliere’, La Nazione, 27 August 2003, p14
Marina Abromovic, A. Di Vettese, G. Pietrantonio, ‘Katthy Cavaliere: brown paper’, Banca delle Idea/Idea Bank’, Fondazione Antonio Ratti, Como, Charta Milano 2002, p74/87
Stefania Briccola, ‘Arte Contemporanea, Vestiti energetici, mostra da indossare’ La Provincia, 22 July 2001
Katthy Cavaliere, ‘Artist’s Choice: Ken Unsworth’s The skidderump’, Art and Australia, Vol 38 No 4 Winter 2001, p540-541
Courtney Kidd, ‘The Galleries: Patience Takes Prize’, Sydney Morning Herald, 2000
Heather Johnson, ‘Art prizes – who wins?’, Art and Australia, Vol 38 No 2 Summer 2000, p286
Armando Tornari, ‘The 2000 Recipient is Katthy Cavaliere…’, La Fiamma, 2000 p12
Andrew Frost, ‘Undiscovered Talents of Australian Art’, Australian Art Collector, Issue 12, April-June 2000
Bruce James, ‘Monster Hunt’, Sydney Morning Herald, 16 October 1999, p13
Adriana Alvarez, ‘Gallery 19 Very Inner City’, Revolver, 30 September 1998, p66
Armando Tornari, ‘Utterance’, La Fiamma, 7 September 1998, p32
Paul Handly, ‘Conceal’, La Fiamma, 6 June 1996, p39
Armando Tornari, ‘Conceal’, La Fiamma, June 1996, p39
Armando Tornari, ‘The Young Italo/Australians Nominations’, La Fiamma, August 1995, p32
Armando Tornari, ‘Sfumato’, La Fiamma, 17 October 1994, p32
George Alexander, Sfumato-an Italo/Australian Exhibition [exhibition catalogue], October 1994
Felicity Fenner, ‘Echoes of Old Masters’, Sydney Morning Herald, 5 August 1994, p19
Buhler & E. Nickolson, OBJECTions [exhibition catalogue], October 1993
Katthy Cavaliere’s complete body of work is represented through works dating from her studies at UNSW Art & Design (formerly College of Fine Arts) and including childhood Super 8 films which were important source material for her practice, through to late works such as nest and the unrealised performance proposition, 11.11.11.
Year
Work
Year
Work
Katthy Cavaliere: Loved was a posthumous survey exhibition at the Museum of Old and New Art (2015-16) and Carriageworks (2016). Curated by Daniel Mudie Cunningham, Loved provided an insight into Cavaliere’s practice, where objects acquire an aura of love and trauma and tell the story of a life.
Photos: Remi Chauvin
Photos: Zan Wimberley
Loved
Museum of Old and
New Art, Hobart
28 November 2015 – 28 March 2016
Loved
Carriageworks,
Sydney
5 August – 11 September 2016
Curated by Daniel Mudie Cunningham
Katthy Cavaliere: Loved was a retrospective of the Sydney artist (1972–2012) which opened at the Museum of Old and New Art in 2016 and toured to Carriageworks in 2016. Loved provided an insight into a private life presented to the public through objects; photographs, video documentation of performance pieces, and everyday, readymade things that are imbued with an aura of love and trauma.
Curated by Daniel Mudie Cunningham, Loved assembled installations, videos, photographs, mixed media installations and more, to comprise a portrait of the artist through more than 15 major works from early to late career; 1998–2011.
“As much as her name was a typo”, said curator Daniel Mudie Cunningham, “Katthy was an artist who considered the mistakes, accidents and emptiness of existence, what she called ‘reality’s black tunnel of nothingness,’ as an imaginary space of wonder capable of suspending art and life.”
Loved was the first public exhibition of two significant works; empty stockings: full of love (2010; performance installation compromised of her mother’s stockings, work uniform, piles of clothes, shredded bills, baskets, human hair, and other mementos with a recorded song from her family archive) and afterlife (2011 photograph of a large hourglass containing the ashes of her mother, with the artist’s shadow looming above it).
Suspended Moment: The Katthy Cavaliere Fellowship is a unique suite of fellowships supporting female-identifying Australian artists working at the nexus of performance and installation. Named after the Italian born Australian artist Katthy Cavaliere (1972-2012), the fellowship is made possible with funds from the Estate of Katthy Cavaliere in partnership with Carriageworks, the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA) and the Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) to present these ambitious new commissions.
Artists Frances Barrett (NSW), Giselle Stanborough (NSW) and Sally Rees (Tas) are the recipients of Suspended Moment: The Katthy Cavaliere Fellowship, comprising three grants of $100,000 awarded to three female artists or collectives for the purpose of realising an ambitious new work. In 2020 Suspended Moment will be a cross-institutional presentation with each partnering institution presenting one of the three commissions.
‘Katthy’ was a spelling mistake at birth.
Katthy Cavaliere had a lifelong project of packing, storing and transporting the stuff of everyday life – the wreckage of her personal possessions, ‘the dead among us’ – and transforming it into art. Her belongings held a symbolic significance; she used them to banish the past, but in doing so, was never quite able to let go of anything. Katthy’s private life was made public through an art practice fashioned from everyday utilitarian belongings like chairs, clothes, toys, bags and boxes – the kind of things a voodoo witch might imbue with charm.
I first met the artist in 1996 when she had just completed her Masters in Art at the College of Fine Arts at the University of New South Wales. This began an occasional professional and personal association that continued until her untimely death in 2012. As such I will refer to her as Katthy, not by last name. Katthy’s name was important to her – the fact that it was a typo made it stand out. Her father wanted to call her Caterina, after her grandmother. Her mother wanted her name to be more ‘modern’ so she updated this to ‘Kathy’. When registering the birth certificate, her father misspelt it. Later in life Katthy embraced the typo, so much so that her mother gave her a necklace with her name spelt out in white-gold letters. Katthy wore the necklace constantly, like it was making a statement: everyone she encountered could know her by name even if they didn’t know her at all. ‘When I was a child I wondered what it would be like to meet everyone in the whole world,’ she wrote in her diary.
—
Extract by author Daniel Mudie Cunningham.
Purchase the book to keep reading.
Katthy Cavaliere
By Daniel Mudie Cunningham
Publisher: Brown Paper with Museum of Old and New Art
Publication Date: 2016
Hardcover with slipcase, 202 pages
ISBN: 9780646948294
For enquiries contact: katthycavaliere@gmail.com
$40 + shipping ($20 within Australia)
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