Famous: Karin Catt Portraits

13 July - 11 November 2007

This free exhibition presents striking celebrity portraits by high-profile Australian photographer Karin Catt. Her iconic images of famous faces, from rock gods and movie stars to world leaders, evoke the world of popular culture and celebrity and the media-driven cult of personality.

The exhibition will enable many visitors to experience the colourful and provocative work of this leading Australian photographer for the first time outside the pages of the glossy magazines. It includes around 90 photographs from Catt’s impressive portfolio.

Karin Catt was born in Newcastle, NSW; she launched her career in Sydney and has been based in the United States since 2002. Her work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Vogue, Harpers Bazaar and other major magazines, and was highlighted in the 2003 National Portrait Gallery exhibition Australians in Hollywood.

Catt has focused her lens sharply on the world of contemporary celebrity, capturing its glamorous and powerful inhabitants in stylish, intimate and often humorous images. Her work explores the way in which magazine-based portrait photography shapes our view of the world.

Portraits in the exhibition include a constellation of Australian and international celebrities such as:

actors Matt Damon, Eric Bana, Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, Magda Szubanski and Miranda Otto
musicians Elton John, Lou Reed, AC/DC, Elvis Costello, David Byrne, Fatboy Slim, PJ Harvey, 50 Cent and Eminem
personalities such as Muhammad Ali and Yoko Ono
world leaders including George Bush Snr and Mikhail Gorbachev.

This touring exhibition from the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in Canberra is curated by Simon Elliott, formerly Deputy Director of the NPG.