Kate Breakey: 70 Moths

Opening reception with the artist:
 Saturday, June 28th, 5 - 7 pm
Exhibition on view:
June 28th - August 30th, 2025

Catherine Couturier Gallery is delighted to present 70 Moths, an exhibition of new work by gallery artist Kate Breakey. Featuring over seventy intimate portraits of moths, Breakey's latest work presents the delicate beauty of these often-unnoticed animals. Her lens invites the viewer to reflect on the vital role moths play in our environment and our role in their urgent conservation.  

Breakey magnifies and enlarges the specimens hundreds or even thousands of times, bringing their delicate features to human scale and revealing their elusive beauty and striking complexity. "Moths are misunderstood creatures and often overlooked," says Breakey. "But when you take a moment to truly see them, their staggering beauty and mysterious transformation into winged creatures is nothing short of fantastic." Her portraits draw on the traditions of natural history illustration and art photography, with affinities to the work of naturalist illustrators Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) and John James Audubon (1785-1851), and botanical photographer Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932). Breakey’s work reverently references the impermanent nature of these creatures and the need to protect them before they disappear.

Originally from South Australia, Kate Breakey moved to Austin, Texas in 1988. She completed a Master of Fine Arts Degree at the University of Texas in 1991, where she also taught Photography in the Department of Art and Art History until 1998. Breakey's work is held in many public collections, including The Australian National Gallery in Canberra, the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego, the Austin Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and The Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern & Mexican Photography.

Please join us for the opening reception with the artist on Saturday, June 28th from 5 to 7 pm at Catherine Couturier Gallery!

To learn more about Kate's inspiration for the show, read her artist statement here.