Cat Anderson

Growing up queer in rural South Yorkshire, the arts offered Cat Anderson a space to find ‘connection, expression and a sense of self’. Their early interactions with live, shared experiences – gigs, fringe theatre, film screenings – and being a ‘part of any space that brings people together through creativity’ shaped how they continue to think about access, expression and belonging in her current work.

Presently Anderson is ‘interested in the role of the arts in our current cultural context, and its responsibility to both disrupt and unite’. Though they’ve worked predominantly in visual arts, she is drawn to cross-disciplinary work, believing that ‘the most exciting things happen when boundaries between art forms are blurred or dismantled’, and has a real enthusiasm for bringing the arts outside galleries and theatres to engage ‘people who don’t typically feel those spaces are for them’. Among her artistic inspirations are ‘bold, multidisciplinary artists like Sin Wai Kin and Zanele Muholi’, and ‘disruptors’ such Guerrilla Girls and The White Pube.

‘Seeing Kiss My Genders at the Hayward Gallery in 2019 was a turning point in my own curatorial practice… The Southbank Centre has always stood out to me as a space for possibility, where accessibility and ambition go hand in hand’

As someone who has always wanted to work in the arts, but ‘didn’t know what that could look like’, Anderson has found that curatorial roles, rather than those of artist or performer, are where they ‘feel most suited and inspired’. As well as the opportunity to spotlight new artists and create bold and disruptive platforms, they ‘enjoy being the ‘zoomed-out’ perspective’ and find a great  satisfaction in ‘connecting the dots, building narratives between work, and helping audiences engage more deeply’.

Of her curatorial work to date Anderson is particularly proud of the ‘saucy, intimate, queer-focused’ group exhibition Spare Me the Details, produced to celebrate issue two of Obscene Pomegranate, which saw her work closely with each of the five artists and lean into the intimacy of the space.

Anderson sees being part of Southbank Centre Presents as ‘a real pinch me moment’ that offers them ‘space to reflect, room to take creative risks, and an opportunity to collaborate’. They see it as an opportunity to expand their practice – ‘creatively, collaboratively and contextually’ – and discover new connections and opportunities through working in collaboration with the other members of the Southbank Centre Presents cohort.