KATHERINE GAILER

Originally from Colombia and currently based in Australia, Katherine Gailer (also known as KATIRA) creates visual narratives exploring cultural identity, our natural environment, women empowerment, magical realism,  and spaces of contemporary design. She graduated with honours from a Bachelor of Fine Arts and completed an Arts Management Masters Degree– both at RMIT University. Her practice incorporates mural painting, oil painting, illustration, design and music.

Her creative expression underscores a main theme that looks at the complex relationship between fragility and strength, vulnerability and empowerment. It celebrates resilience and liberation and clamours for an urgent need to restore the invisible fabric that weaves together humans and nature.

Through her work Gailer is constantly challenging social structures and reclaiming the space for diverse cultural expression and women at the forefront of social change. Her artworks can also be interpreted as a series of confronting tensions to articulate the essence of the Feminine as a force of relatedness in our world today.

Rediscovering a sense of the sacred and revisiting our ancient past embody the driving force for the development of her artworks.

Awards and Recognitions include:

Finalist • 2020 The Global Art Awards, Shanghai Edition
Winner • 2018 People’s Choice Award at Corangamarah Art Prize (Australia)
Winner • 2018 Packer’s Art Prize (Red Rock Regional Gallery, Australia)
Winner • 2017 ROI Art Prize (Australia)
Finalist • 2017, Emerging Art Awards (Fortyfivedownstairs Gallery, Australia)
Finalist • 2017, Contemporary Art Awards (Australia)
Featured • 2017, Melbourne Fringe Festival Award Winning Exhibition: Fifty Shades Of Blak
Featured • 2016, Malaysia Art Expo Plus (KL, Malaysia)
Finalist • 2015, Brisbane Art Prize (Australia)
Finalist • 2014, Glencore Percival Portrait Painting Prize
Awarded • 2014, 29th Chelsea International Art Competition (USA)
Winner • 2011, Tolarno Hotel Annual Award (Australia)