I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the Wurundjeri country on which I live, and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. I pay my respects to their Elders past and present.
Wendy Catling (she/her) is an Australian visual artist working primarily in the medium of photography. Motivated by personal and family histories, the artist takes a reparative approach to the complexities and tensions of human relationships. Her work focuses on shame, memory, power, and intergenerational trauma. She employs alternative, digital, and digital photography, video and installation practices.
For more than two decades Catling has taught art and photography to teenage and adult students. She has also worked as a textile designer, stage manager, theatre administrator, and a sound and lighting operator for comedy improvisers. Wendy has volunteered with victims of domestic violence and as a gallery tour guide. She completed her MA - Photography project, Nightshade, in 2020 supervised by Dr Kristian Haggblom and mentored by Janina Green (Aus) and Melinda Gibson (UK).
Her works have been shown in the UK, USA and Australia and are in collections at Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Gallery of Australia, Warrnambool Art Gallery, and in private collections. She lives on the outskirts of Naarm, (Melbourne), surrounded by native bushland reserves with her partner who is a sound designer, and multimedia artist.
Education:
MA Photography - Photography Studies College, Melbourne-
Post Graduate Certificate of Education - Greenwich University, London
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BA Fine Art - Monash University, Melbourne
Exhibitions:
- Supplementery Information Required, PSC Captured Exhibition Space, Southgate, Melbourne, 2025.
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Female in Focus x Nikon Photography 2024 Awards, London & Glasgow, 2025.
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New Photobooks from Australia, V&A Museum, London, 2024.
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Dear Neighbour, Maroondah Federation Estate Gallery, Ringwood, 2023-24.
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Speculative Horizons, Contemporary Art Platform, Kuwait, 2023.
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Nightshade, Alternating Current, Windsor, Vic,
Australia, 2020.
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Hard Light, Ballarat International Foto Bienale, Vic,
Australia, 2015.
- Light Sensitive, (Group show) Art Intersection, Arizona, USA, 2015.
Publications:
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En un pais de madres (cover image), A M Homes, 2024, Editorial Anagrama, Barcelona.
- Enough is Enough, 2023, (Eds) McInnes, V & Fraser, S,
Perimeter Editions & Art+Australia, Melbourne.
- Cyanotype: L’Art et La Technique, 2023, Anderson, C Z, Paris, France.
- Nightshade, 2022, Catling W, (design: Kim Mumm Hansen) M.33, Melbourne.
- Cyanotype: The Blueprint in Contemporary Practice, 2019, Anderson C Z, Routledge, New York.
- Single Image winner, Female in Focus x Nikon 2024 Awards, British Journal of Photography, 2025.
- Shortlisted, Singapore International Photography Festival photobook awards, 2024.
- Honorable Mention, Australian-New Zealand Photobook Awards, 2024.
- Finalist, Zart National Teacher-Artist Awards, 2021.
- Finalist, Ballarat International Foto Biennale Grad Foto Award, 2021.