ARTIST PROFILE

Cat Gerke
Modern Still Life Painter | Northern Rivers, NSW

Cat Gerke is a contemporary still life painter living and working in the Byron Bay Hinterland, New South Wales, on Bundjalung Country. Her home studio is nestled in the heart of the Northern Rivers region—surrounded by rich farmland, vibrant restaurants, and the everyday beauty of Australian produce. Her paintings honour the rituals of daily life: food, objects, memory, and the quiet magic of gathering.

Cat studied painting and drawing at the College of Fine Arts in Sydney in the late 2000s, where her lifelong fascination with still life truly began. It was in those classrooms that she first encountered the powerful history of the genre—a form that for centuries has been intimately tied to the domestic, the feminine, and the overlooked. The women behind still life, often unnamed or undervalued, sparked a deep connection. This tradition has become Cat’s way of exploring her own identity: as a woman, a non-mother, a professional creative, and someone continuously questioning where power, presence, and purpose intersect.

In Cat’s work, themes of imbalance, fertility, and power are delicately layered into compositions that speak softly but carry weight. Subtle symbolism—ripe fruit, empty vessels, floral decay—echo broader narratives, though never so overtly that they overpower the emotional resonance of the image. Her practice walks a line between the conceptual and the personal, rooted in realism but always open to interpretation.

From the age of six, Cat was immersed in the world of art, attending local classes and developing an early comfort with creative expression. By ten, she was sketching nude life models, unbothered by the discomfort of the adults around her. (“It’s just a penis?” she famously shrugged.) That charcoal drawing went on to win First Prize in the Open Section at her local show—a moment that foreshadowed the unflinching gaze she continues to bring to her work today.

With over a decade in the interior design industry, Cat brings a thoughtful awareness of how art functions in the home—how a piece becomes a focal point, a memory holder, or a quiet statement. Her works are designed to live intimately with people, to offer depth and beauty without needing to shout.