Kate Joyce (—photographer)
Kate Joyce’s work (b. 1979) explores the ambiguities of things in the process of change. She uses photography, text, and installations to explore time suspended between the indistinct and specific. Kate's 2021 artist designed book Metamorphoses, imagines transformations and translations between a series of contemporary photographs from Chile and Ovid’s collection of myths from the ancient world. Confined to the window seat on commercial airplanes, Metaphysics (2022) is a study of sunlight illuminating passengers and cabin interiors at the fluid interface of body and machine. Analogies (2023) is a dialogue in picture sequences between Kate Joyce and software engineer Gordon Cameron that asks how human minds make connections and how these transform across images and asks what it might mean for artificial intelligence to do the same.
Kate’s work is represented in the permanent collections of the North Carolina Museum of Art, Museum of New Mexico Palace of the Governors, JP Morgan Chase Art Collection, Duke University Perkins Library Special Collections & Rare Book Archive, Cassilhaus Collection, and the Center for Creative Photography.
Resident artist at the Santa Fe Institute in northern New Mexico. And a 2024 artist-in-residence at Fallingwater Institute in western Pennsylvania.
Born in Santa Fe, NM, where she lives and works, Kate studied Spanish in Guatemala; photojournalism and sociology at San Francisco State University; and documentary photography at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.
Kate received a Lewis Hine Documentary Initiative Fellowship (2003-2004) during which she lived in Bloemfontein, South Africa working with a local NGO in the field of early childhood development and education.
For over a decade Kate has collaborated on documentary art projects, exhibitions and publications with writer Sam Stephenson and Rock Fish Stew Institute of Literature and Materials with subjects ranging from minor league baseball in Durham, NC (Bull City Summer) to a radical international music festival in Knoxville, TN (Big Ears Knoxville).
In 2019 the Santa Fe Institute exhibited Kate’s photographs as part of the Complexity of Time Symposium. These works subsequently evolved into Metaphysics, with a solo installation at SITE Santa Fe in 2022 and companion monograph printed by Hat & Beard Press, LA.
In 2021 Kate created her imprint Special Problems Press to explore self-publishing and enable the distribution of projects with particularly long page counts.
Metamorphoses (Special Problems Press, 2021) transforms Ovid’s collection of myths from the ancient world, written toward the end of his life nearly two thousand years ago, into a photographic journal of contemporary life seen through a series of photographs made 20-years ago in Chile. With a new and collaborative English translation from the Latin by longtime friend and historian Andrew Berns.
Analogies (Special Problems Press, 2021) is a dialogue in picture sequences between Kate Joyce and software engineer Gordon Cameron that asks how human minds make connections and challenges the idea that artificial intelligence could do the same.
Between 2006-2010 Kate was apprentice and photographer at Hedrich Blessing Galisteo/Chicago, the architectural photography studio whose founders worked with Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright. In 2010, in the aftermath of the 2007-2009 financial crisis, she established Kate Joyce Studios to manage her freelance architectural and editorial photography commissions.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022
Kate Joyce: Metaphysics, SITE Santa Fe, NM
2018
We Are Time Is, Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM
2014
Bull City Summer, Rick Wester Fine Art, New York, NY
2012
Curvature (an ode to the window seat & Isamu Noguchi’s Sky Above 1988), RTKL Chicago Gallery, Chicago, IL
Arches, Loops & Whorls: Fingerprints, Silkscreens & Photographs, ESS: Audible Gallery, Chicago, IL
2005
The Quench Tank, Art + Industry, Santa Fe, NM
Grassland Phase II: Residents and Government Reshaping South Africa’s Informal Settlements, Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy, Duke University, Durham, NC
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023
A Slice of Pie, Pie Projects, invitational, December 2, 2023 - January 6, 2024
2019
Qualities of Light, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson
One-of-a-Kind, Obscura Gallery, Santa Fe, November 22, 2019 - January 4, 2020
Circles and Squares, Rick Wester Fine Art, New York, June 13 - August 9th, 2019
2018
Views of Stillness, with Michael Massaia, Yamamoto Masao, and Kate Joyce, Obscura Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, Nov 16 - Jan 5 2019
2017
Nature Morte: Contemporary Artists Reinvigorate the Still Life Tradition, Guildhall Art Gallery London, September 2017 - April 2018
2015
INsite ONview, Matthew Rachman Gallery, Chicago, IL – exhibition with Luftwerk
Big, Bent Ears: A multimedia installation about listening, Contemporary Art Museum, Raleigh, NC – group exhibition
2014
Not Long Hidden, Rick Wester Fine Art, New York, NY
The Nature of a Collective, The Ukranian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago, IL - group exhibition curated by Stella Group & UIMA
Bull City Summer, Contemporary Art Museum, Raleigh, NC - curated by Marjorie Hodges
Bull City Summer, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC - curated by Linda Dougherty
2011
You’re Pushing Too Hard, Chicago Art Department, Chicago, IL
2009
Beyond Beauty: Photographs from the Duke University Special Collections Library, Nasher Museum of Art, Durham NC – curatorial team Karen Glynn, Patricia Leighten, Margaret Morrison, Margaret Sartor & Sarah Schroth
2008
Through the Lens: Creating Santa Fe, Museum of New Mexico Palace of the Governors, Santa Fe, NM
2006
Aporia, Victoria Price Contemporary Art & Design, Santa Fe, NM
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOK
Analogies, Special Problems Press, Santa Fe, Revised Edition 2023
Metaphysics, Hat & Beard Press, LA, 2022
Metamorphoses, Special Problems Press, Santa Fe, 2021
Big Ears Knoxville 2014—2018, Rock Fish Stew Institute of Literature and Materials, Hat & Beard Press, LA, 2019
Stephenson, Sam, Bull City Summer: A season at the ballpark, Daylight Books, 2014
Petry, Michael, Nature Morte: Contemporary Artists Reinvigorate the Still Life Tradition, London: Thames & Hudson, 2013
Beyond Beauty: Photographs from the Duke University Special Collections Library, North Carolina: Nasher Museum of Art, 2009
Redding, Mary-Anne, and Elrick, Krista, ed. Through the Lens: Creating Santa Fe, Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press, 2008
Solnit, Rebecca & Schwartzenberg, Susan, Hollow City: The Siege of San Francisco and the Crisis of American Urbanism, London: Verso, 2000
MAGAZINE/JOURNAL
2023
Portraits of Ted Chiang, Kyle Harper, and Nina Lanza by Kate Joyce for EXTRATERRITORIAL, no. 2
2022
“Holding Hands With Homo Erectus, Morphologically Achuelean Hand Axe, 2015, Chicago”, Der Grief Guest Room, selected by Darius Himes and Ali Rajabi, Der Greif, December 20, 2022
“Hall Meets Katz” portraits of Bill Katz by Kate Joyce, BLAU INTERNATIONAL, No. 5
“A Window on An Interior World: Kate Joyce’s Metaphysics” by Michael Abatemarco
Santa Fe New Mexican PASATIEMPO, March 11, 2022
2017
"PLANE", selected photographs, Harper's Magazine, Readings, June 2017 Issue
2016
"Concessions and the Cup Holder, 2011 (detail)", Harper's Magazine Findings, July 2016 Issue
2015
Stephenson, Sam, “Anatomy of a Sequence: Kate Joyce, Shadows, Jonny Greenwood” The Paris Review / Big Bent Ears: A serial in Documentary Uncertainty, July 22, 2015
2014
“Impact of a Ball and the Outfield Wall, Part 1”(detail), Harper’s Magazine, p. 27, August 2014
2012
Stephenson, Sam, “A Mark So Fine: Joe Henry and You.” The Paris Review Daily, May 18, 2012
2011
Stephenson, Sam, “Mary Frank.” The Paris Review Daily, May 26, 2011
Munro, Alice, “Axis” The New Yorker, January 31, 2011: 65
2010
Freudenberger, Nell, “An Arranged Marriage” The New Yorker, September 6, 2010: 68
Eugenides, Jeffrey, “Extreme Solitude” The New Yorker, June 7, 2010: 60
2008
Lopez, Barry and Stewart, Frank, Ed. “Threshold of Human Touch.”Gates of Reconciliation: Literature and the Ethical Imagination: Manoa Journal, University of Hawai’i: 20:1:108-112
AWARDS / HONORS / RESIDENCIES
2024
Fallingwater Institute Artist/Scholar-In-Residence
2013
Illinois Arts Council Professional Development Grant
2011
Community Arts Assistance Program (CAAP) Grantee, City of Chicago, Department of Cultural Affairs
2010
Community Arts Assistance Program (CAAP) Grantee, City of Chicago, Department of Cultural Affairs
2004
Lewis Hine Documentary Initiative Fellowship, Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University
COLLECTIONS
North Carolina Museum of Art
Museum of New Mexico Palace of the Governors
Santa Fe Community College
JP Morgan Chase Art Collection
Duke University Perkins Library Special Collections & Rare Book Archive
The Center for Documentary Studies
Cassilhaus Collection
Center for Creative Photography
PUBLIC SCREENINGS AND GUEST LECTURES
2022
SITE Santa Fe, Metamorphoses: live presentation of the book, with Andrew Berns and music by Justin Ray, Santa Fe, NM
University of South Carolina, Metamorphoses, Columbia, SC
2018
Santa Fe Institute, "Complexity of Time" Board/Trustee Symposium, Santa Fe, NM
2017
MIT, Urban Design Studio, Cambridge, MA
2013
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2012
Columbia College, Chicago, IL
Land Up Conference, Chicago Architecture Foundation Chicago, IL
2011
The Expressive Marriage of Image and Word, Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS
2010
Pecha Kucha Chicago, Volume 14, Chicago, IL
2009
Bridging Perspectives Conference: Intervening with men who batter, Minneapolis, MN
2005
Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
College of Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM
ADDITIONAL WORK EXPERIENCE
2010-Present
Kate Joyce Studios, photographic services for building and landscape architects, Worldwide, based in Santa Fe, NM
2023-2024
Santa Fe Institute, Photographer of space and people, Santa Fe, NM
2014-2016
Santa Fe University of Art and Design, Photography instructor, Mexico and Peru
2006-2009
Hedrich Blessing Photographers, Apprenticeship and Staff Photographer, Chicago, IL
2006
O’Keeffe Art and Leadership Program for Girls, Photography Art Teacher, Santa Fe, NM
2005-2006
Lewis Hine Documentary Initiative, Program Coordinator, Center for Documentary Studies, Durham, NC
2004
Diketso Eseng Dipuo Community Development Trust, Documentary projects specialist, Bloemfontein, South Africa
EDUCATION
Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, Durham, NC, 2003-2004
San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA, 1999-2003
Instituto Central America Spanish School, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, 1998
Kate Joyce: Metaphysics
SITE Santa Fe
Opening night
January 21, 2022
(photo David Salazar)
Kate Joyce: Metaphysics, 2022, installation (photo: Shayla Blatchford) SITE Santa Fe, Jan 21—April 24, 2022
OFF THE RAILS: SITE Santa Fe's Annual Benefit & Concert left, Helen Pashgian, right, Kate Joyce Metaphysics, pln02, 2022
Metamorphoses: Multimedia performance and book signing
March 11, 2022, SITE Santa Fe
A presentation of select stories from photographer Kate Joyce‘s book by the same name, with translation by Andrew Berns and live soundscape by Justin Ray, aka RMX#13, DJ and owner of REMIX Audio Bar.
Presenting We Are Time Is, Santa Fe Institute 2018 Board/Trustee Symposium "Complexity of Time" May 5 2018 Santa Fe, NM
"PLANE", selected photographs, Harper's Magazine, Readings, June 2017 Issue
Field trip poster, New Horizon's Mentoring Program, Chicago 2014
Through the Lens: Creating Santa Fe, edited by Mary-Anne Redding and Krista Elrick, Museum of New Mexico Press, 2008. My aunt Julie Dean taught me photography when I was a teenager, we would take photo walks around Santa Fe. Diptych, Julie Dean (color) Kate Joyce (B&W) 1996
First darkroom, circa 1993, Santa Fe, NM
Frames to Fiction, The New Yorker Photo Booth, “Extreme Solitude” by Jeffrey Eugenides, June 7, 2010: 60
Photograph for The New Yorker, “An Arranged Marriage” by Nell Freudenberger, September 6, 2010: 68
Photograph for The New Yorker, “Axis” by Alice Munro, January 31, 2011: 65
Gallery Intell video interview. Bull City Summer installation at Rick Wester Fine Art, NYC June 2014
Duke University Perkins Library Special Collections & Rare Book Archive, Lewis Hine Fellowship, "Grassland Phase II: Residents and Government Reshaping South Africa's Informal Settlements", 2003-2004
Nature Morte: Contemporary Artists Reinvigorate the Still Life Tradition, curated by Michael Petry director of MOCA London, exhibited at Guildhall Art Gallery London, published by Thames & Hudson
Studio, Santa Fe 2018.
6 minutes and 40 seconds, Pecha Kucha Chicago, Volume 14, Chicago, IL 2010, video
“Anatomy of a Sequence: Kate Joyce, Shadows, Jonny Greenwood” by Sam Stephenson, The Paris Review/Big Bent Ears: A serial in Documentary Uncertainty, July 22, 2015
Self portrait, Santa Fe 2007
SOLO-ARTIST BOOK Metaphysics (Hat & Beard Press Fall 2022) Metamorphoses (Special Problems Press 2021) Big Ears Knoxville (Hat and Beard Press 2019) MULTIPLE-ARTIST BOOK PUBLICATIONS include Analogies (Special Problems Press 2021) Nature Morte: Contemporary Artists Reinvigorate the Still Life Tradition (Thames & Hudson), Bull City Summer (Daylight Books), Through the Lens: Creating Santa Fe (Museum of New Mexico Press), and Hollow City:The Siege of San Francisco and the Crisis of American Urbanism (Verso). WORKS PUBLISHED BY Harper’s Magazine, BLAU International, The New Yorker, The Paris Review Daily, The Chicagoan, Architect Magazine, Manoa Journal and The New York Times. IN THE COLLECTIONS OF Museum of New Mexico Palace of the Governors, NM; North Carolina Museum of Art, NC; Duke University Perkins Library Special Collections & Rare Book Archive, NC; The Cassilhaus Collection, NC; and the JPMorgan Chase Art Collection, NY. SOLO EXHIBITIONS include SITE Santa Fe; Santa Fe Institute; Rick Wester Fine Art, New York; RTKL Chicago Gallery, Chicago; Experimental Sound Studio/Audible Gallery, Chicago; Duke University, Durham, NC. GROUP EXHIBITIONS include Center for Creative Photography, Tucson; Obscura Gallery, Santa Fe; Guildhall Art Gallery, London; North Carolina Museum of Art, NC; Contemporary Art Museum Raleigh, NC; The Ukrainian Museum of Modern Art, Chicago; Nasher Museum of Art, NC; and Museum of New Mexico Palace of the Governors, NM.