Kate Vassallo / by Kirrily Jordan

Kate Vassallo, Secrets, 2022. Image courtesy of Document Photography.

Kate Vassallo is a visual artist, based on Ngunnawal, Ngunawal and Ngambri Country (Canberra, Australia). 

When making artworks, her focus is setting the scene for something to happen in the studio. Using rules and parameters, she develops fully fleshed out “systems” of materially focused steps. Usually highly repetitious, these processes slowly unfold over time. Her artworks are a labour of love, spending highly focused time, along with mental and physical energy, building up their surfaces. 

Vassallo graduated from the Australian National University School of Art in 2010 with First Class Honours and a University Medal. Her work debuted as part of PICA’s well-renowned showcase of emerging talent ‘Hatched’ in 2011. She has since regularly exhibited throughout Australia, including solo presentations at Goulburn Regional Art Gallery, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Galerie pompom, Firstdraft and a raft of other arts institutions. She has been a finalist in numerous art prizes, including the Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize, Jacaranda Acquisitive Art Award, Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing and Ravenswood Australian Women's Art Prize. In 2021, she was awarded the Local Artist Prize at the M16 Artspace Drawing Prize. In 2019, Vassallo won the Preparator’s Artist Residency Award, as well as Highly Commended for Early Career Artists, at the Hazelhurst Art on Paper Award. Her artworks are held in the Artbank and Goulburn Regional Gallery collections, as well as private collections throughout Australia and the USA.

Website: katevassallo.com
Follow the artist: @kate.vassallo.studio