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Art

Gallery

Kat Thompson

Collage installed across much of a white wall, with photographs, some of which are stuck up by red sticky tape, images printed onto fabric, and props, like a cinder block, a brochure folding out onto the floor, and a book on the floor
The Weight of Paradise, 2025 collage of reprints of artist’s personal archives, found archives, and brochures
Collage of variety of photos, including a group of women, a couple posing with a boat and sky background, a black-and-white drawing of a woman, and a black and white photo of men approaching a tree with colorful photographs
Close-up of The Weight of Paradise, 2025 collage of reprints of artist’s personal archives, found archives, and brochures
Collage including black-and-white image of woman, man, and children under palm fronds printed onto a linen, a brochure for Jamaica Magic Cruises, a 1969 brochure for hotels and guest houses in Jamaica, personal photos, and black-and-white photos
Close-up of The Weight of Paradise, 2025 collage of reprints of artist’s personal archives, found archives, and brochures
Collage close-up, including photographic close-up of woman that is cropped so the top of her face with a man's arm around her waist, a wedding photo, brochures, a framed photo of cruise liners, and b
Close-up of The Weight of Paradise, 2025 collage of reprints of artist’s personal archives, found archives, and a brochure for Winter 68-Spring 69 Jamica Montego Bay Ocho Rios Kingston “Fun in the Sun”
Centered in a collage is a photo of a baby with a hat on and colorful lights in the background. Other images include a row of homes and cars, a portrait of a young girl, two close-up portaits of a man, and a boat on the water, among others.
Close-up of The Weight of Paradise, 2025 collage of reprints of artist’s personal archives, found archives, and brochures
A variety of photographs collaged together, some held up with push pins and others with red tape. Photos include color photos, black-and-white, and those with a sepia tone, including plants, a man sitting against a car, children in dresses, people in water, and people playing a game around a table
Close-up of The Weight of Paradise, 2025 collage of reprints of artist’s personal archives, found archives, and brochures
Collage including a brochure for Jamaican hotels and guest houses, a posed photo of a couple, a black and white photo of people who've been working in a field, and a framed photo of people shopping in a market.
Close-up of The Weight of Paradise, 2025 collage of reprints of artist’s personal archives, found archives, and brochures
On the floor, a cinder block with a book or catalog on top of it with a title that says "Fly Air Jamaica and don't see the world." The advertisement begins: "We won't take you to Rome or Paris or Hong Kong. We'll only take you one place in the whole world: Jamaica" and ends, "With a nice island like ours: who wants to fly anyplace else?" On the page across from it, there is an article with information about Jamaca, including about its history and government, area, population size, and capital. Next to the book is a personal photo of people in a pool, tilted at an angle.
Close-up of The Weight of Paradise, 2025 collage of reprints of artist’s personal archives, found archives, and brochures
Close-up of installation featuring a brochure unfolded and hanging from its side, almost touching floor, advertising "Jamaica Tower Isle air-conditioned." On a cinder block positioned vertically, a stack of photos and brochures.
Close-up of The Weight of Paradise, 2025 collage of reprints of artist’s personal archives, found archives, and brochures
Close-up of The Weight of Paradise featuring a variety of photographs, including polaroids, portait photos, photos out in nature, and 3 centered photos of a woman in the same outfit with a bright purple top, two with children and another woman and one by herself, along with brochures
The Weight of Paradise close-up, 2025 collage of reprints of artist’s personal archives, found archives, and brochures
View of whole wall, which shows a blue bar painted horizontally across the white wall. On the bar is a row of hanging square keychains.
Souvenir of Access: Denied, Restricted, For Sale, Withheld, Limited, 2025, reprints of found vacation Ektachrome slides, Transparency film and Plastic. 2 ½ x 2 ½ inches (individual keychain)
Close-up of row of keychains hanging on hooks against a blue background, with one fully in frame. The image is of a young boy, perhaps in front of water, with a blue tint.
Close-up of Souvenir of Access: Denied, Restricted, For Sale, Withheld, Limited, 2025, reprints of found vacation Ektachrome slides, Transparency film and Plastic. 2 ½ x 2 ½ inches (individual keychain)
Five keychains that faintly say on each "The W.I." hanging from hooks against a blue background. Blue images centered in keychains are in various shades of blue and include images of the beach and water.
Close-up of Souvenir of Access: Denied, Restricted, For Sale, Withheld, Limited, 2025, reprints of found vacation Ektachrome slides, Transparency film and Plastic. 2 ½ x 2 ½ inches (individual keychain)

Chainlink fence installed in white, well-lit room, fencing in a beach landscape image.
The View You Cannot Have, 2025, found archive printed on beach towel
Close-up of beach landscape printed on towel through the holes in a chain link fence.
Close-up of The View You Cannot Have, 2025, found archive printed on beach towel
From the side, a chain linked fence, fencing in an image of a beach landscape hanging from a white wall.
Another angle of The View You Cannot Have, 2025, found archive printed on beach towel.

Screen mounted on white wall, showing a still of a video. The image is of a landscape with green plants and water, and within the landscape there is a projector showing an image, pink-hued, of people in a slight, wooden boat with the words "JAMAICA Jamaica Tourist Board" over the image.
Still from We are More Than a Beach, part 2, 2025, video
Video still, on screen mounted on white wall. There is an image of a green landscape with plants and water, and within the landscape, a projector on which is a pink-tinted image of a person.
Still from We are More Than a Beach, part 2, 2025, video
Projected onto the wall, image of boys with numbers on the back of their shirts riding donkeys on the beach
Still from Gaze, Interrupted, 2025, video
Projected on the wall, woman gazing out at viewer in front of a road and building that has a counter and window with a man sitting behind it and another man facing it.
Still from Gaze, Interrupted, 2025, video
View of gallery showing video projected on one wall and on the other side the Souvenir of Access artwork, a row of keychains on blue. The video still projected on the wall shows two boys or young men's heads sticking out of what looks like ocean water.
Still from Gaze, Interrupted, 2025, video

Against blue background, though sometimes extending past blue background, framed images of beach and water. Images are printed onto fabric and are spilling out of gold frames.
Untitled: Beach, Cliff, Dunes, Sign, 2025, print on Florence power net
Close-up of previous work, showing a variety of black-and-white photographs including people in a graduation cap and gown, pearls, and ties with colorful and patterned textiles covering faces.
Close-up of The Archive is Soft, 2025, archive reprint, Caribbean textile and commercial textiles
Photograph of water and surrounding landscape with dark blue border, with postcard imposed on upper left corner of East Harbour, Port Antonio, Jamaica
East Harbour, Port Antonio, Jamaica, 2025, archive print on Moab Juniper Baryta Rag and Archival Postcard
Black-and-white photograph of woods framed in dark blue, with a postcard labeled "FUN AT THE FAIR" imposed on top of it, positioned in the lower right quarter. In the postcard, people ride a swing.
Fun At the Fair in Virginia, 2025, archive print on Moab Juniper Baryta Rag and Archival Postcard
Close-up showing black-and-white postcard labeled "Easter Harbour, Port Antonio, Jamaica" showing people walking on path alongside water, placed on top of a black-and-white photo of water and trees
Close-up of East Harbour, Port Antonio, Jamaica, 2025, archive print on Moab Juniper Baryta Rag and Archival Postcard
Two images hung together, with space between them, on white wall. Both are black-and-white photographs of landscapes framed in blue, which include black-and-white postcards on top of them.
Installation view of Fun At the Fair in Virginia, 2025, Archive print on Moab Juniper Baryta Rag and Archival Postcard. and East Harbour, Port Antonio, Jamaica, 2025. Archive print on Moab Juniper Baryta Rag and Archival Postcard.
Close-up of postcard that is captioned "FUN AT THE FAIR" showing people on a swing, placed on top of a photo of the woods
Close-up of Fun At the Fair in Virginia, 2025, archive print on Moab Juniper Baryta Rag and Archival Postcard
In rows, a variety of black-and-white portrait photographs where faces are covered by two or three squares of colorful and patterned textiles, all set on a blue background
The Archive is Soft, 2025, archive reprint, Caribbean textile and commercial textiles

Kat Thompson

Kat Thompson (b.1991) is a visual artist and educator based in Virginia whose practice bridges photography, video, textiles, sculptural collage, and installation. By layering and interweaving these mediums, Thompson explores how images and objects hold memory, history, and identity, particularly within the context of the African Diaspora. Her work meditates on the construction of Black selfhood, considering how cultural memory, ancestral ties, and lived experience converges in both personal and collective narratives. Thompson has presented solo exhibitions with 1708 Gallery (Richmond, VA), the Hamiltonian Artists Gallery (Washington, D.C.), and George Mason University. She has also exhibited throughout Virginia, the greater Washington, D.C. area, and Miami, including Page Bond Gallery (Richmond, VA), Visible Records (Charlottesville, VA), the Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art (Reston, Virginia), and Green Space Miami. She has participated in residencies at The Watermill Center, MASS MoCA, The Women Photographers International Archive (WOPHA), the Torpedo Factory Post-Graduate Residency, and the VisArts Gibbs Street Residency. In 2023, she was awarded the Hamiltonian Artists Fellowship (2023–2025), a two-year program supporting emerging contemporary artists in Washington, D.C. Thompson holds a MFA in photography & film from Virginia Commonwealth University and a BFA in photography from George Mason University.

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