My name is Cat and I began taking photographs in high school. In my 20s I learned that I really enjoyed exploring topics close to me and telling a story through collaborative photo projects.

 

My first story telling project was working together with my roommate, documenting her evolving relationship with her body as her gender identity changed.

 

Three years later I found myself using photography to heal from my experience with sexual assault, and this grew into a collaboration with other survivors that resulted in “Faces of Survivors: Voices Reclaimed”, a photo essay of images and text celebrating the resilience and strength of survivors of sexual violence. Ultimately this project was shown internationally, in over 25 locations, between 2002 and 2006.

 

Following this project, I found myself thinking a lot about body image, and was drawn to working with dancers to explore and communicate what being present in your body might look like. This resulted in another traveling photo exhibit that was presented between 2004 and 2005.

 

Today I find myself thinking a lot about body image, sensuality, and self-love and how events and stages in my life have affected these things. As I grapple with these issues I feel compelled to work with others who might also be thinking about these things, and hence the launch of  The Embodied Experience and Whose Lens?.