Kate Muehlemann Cataldo: The Constellations Project
Artist Kate Muehlemann Cataldo's residency The Constellations Project will honor the lives of LGBTQ+ Elders through painted portraits and storytelling using audio recordings. The elders will engage in a six-week legacy project and portrait painting capturing their life reflections. After the six weeks, queer youth will be presented with the documented stories of the elders and will create an artwork based on an element from the story that brings them hope for their own queer future. The project will create an entrance point for dialogue on intergenerational community and care. The residency will culminate with an exhibition in the Spring of 2024 with displays of the portraits, audio recordings, and youth artworks.
Kate’s project acknowledges how many queer people have not had role models nor a blueprint of what life might look like as an aging adult. The Constellations Project is rooted in honoring non-biologic family stories as our own queer ancestry and its legacy while promoting connection with the community.
Constellations of the night sky have shared stories and guidance throughout time, and The Constellations Project takes its name from this sentiment. Constellation is not only an inclusive word for those who surround, care for, and support us but also a reminder of the presence of these guiding lights, inspiring curiosity and wonder if we take the time to look.
Stay tuned for more information on the project as it develops!
This project is funded by the Pasadena Community Foundation.
Bio
Kate Muehlemann Cataldo is a visual artist, death doula, and founder of Constellations of Care. Their organization provides end-of-life support and advocacy for the LGBTQIA2S+ community and creates space and tools for intentional dialogue about death and dying. Her artistic practice is influenced by the vulnerability and empathy cultivated in caregiving and themes of queer identity.
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In 2023, Kate Muehlemann Cataldo was invited to “develop a project that creates peaceful spaces for intergenerational connection and the conditions for collective healing, with a trauma-informed-care approach,” based on SSP’s Artist Residency theme “UNTWISTED: Inside Out In”.