In Conversation: Kat Kats, 'What more do you want from me'

Join Kat Kats for an in-conversation with Raimondo Cortese and Megan Evans exploring her current exhibition, What more do you want from me – showing at Next Wave until Friday 23 October.

What more do you want from me is a deeply compelling and radical act of exposure, exploring trauma, invisible disability, and the impacts of childhood sexual abuse. 

The artist’s personal phone photo archive has been transformed into a participatory installation that challenges conventional modes of spectatorship and authorship. This project’s powerful and nuanced interrogation of identity, consent, and memory – through the lens of trauma and invisible disability – marks a bold and significant evolution in Kat Kats' practice, from text-based performance to large-scale visual installation.

Kat Kats

Kat Kats is a versatile playwright and artist with expertise in live art, festival curation, and visual art installations. In 2022, she curated the Buffer Fringe Performing Arts Festival in Nicosia, Cyprus, showcasing artists from Cyprus, France, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Greece, and Kurdistan. She delivered a keynote at the Festival Academy Atelier Nicosia and developed her performance piece, Awaiting Your Response, with Cypriot actors Popi Avraam and Antonis Katsaris, and musicians Monsieur Doumani. The piece featured pop art posters of her grandparents around Cyprus, including the UN buffer zone, with QR codes linking to 134 love letters.

Kat received the Ian Potter Cultural Trust grant in 2018, working with Sibyl Kempson at The Whitney Museum in New York and other notable New York artists. She holds a BA (Hons) in English and a Masters in Writing for Performance from the VCA. A regular contributor to Mamamia.com.au and the ABC, Kat strongly believes in the transformative power of writing in bringing people together.

Artist Mentor / Project Curator: Leisa Shelton
Installation Design and Production: James McAllister

Raimondo Cortese

Raimondo Cortese has written over thirty plays for theatre, including Features of Blown Youth, Roulette, St Kilda Tales, The Silence, Holiday, which won a 2007 Green Room Award for Best Australian Writing, The Child and Super Natural Inflatable. His plays have been presented in over a twenty countries. He was a founding member of Ranters Theatre, serving as Artistic Director from 1994 - 2001. Raimondo was the recipient of a 2010 Australian Leadership Award, and the inaugural Patrick White Fellowship by the STC in 2011. He also writes fiction and for film. He is Postgrad Coordinator and Senior Lecturer, Master of Theatre Writing, VCA, University of Melbourne.

Megan Evans

Megan Evans is a multidisciplinary artist, working in painting, photography, sculpture, and installation. Her work is informed by social issues, examining the impact of colonisation on identity, both self and nation. It is influenced by the intersection of her settler colonial heritage and her family via marriage to Gunditjmarra artist and activist the late Les Griggs.

Next Wave

Next Wave is a leading not-for-profit arts organisation dedicated to supporting early-career artists working across multiple art forms. Next Wave plays a defining role in the Australian arts landscape by empowering and advocating for early-career and experimental artistic practice in Australia.

270 Sydney Road, Bulleke-bek (Brunswick)
nextwave.org.au

Accessibility

Brunswick Mechanics Institute is a step-free venue with accessible bathrooms. 

Video tour of Brunswick Mechanics Institute

Download the Brunswick Mechanics Institute visual story (.docx) 
Download the Brunswick Mechanics Institute visual story (.pdf)

Download the Brunswick Mechanics Institute transport and parking information (.docx)
Download the Brunswick Mechanics Institute transport and parking information (.pdf)

Images (left to right): Kat Kats, photo supplied. Raymondo Cortese, photo: Giulia McGauran. Megan Evans, photo: supplied. (Background): Kat Kats, What more do you want from me (detail), 2026, Narrm/Melbourne. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Ascent Media.