dear katie, love katie 11/7
Artist bio
katie zhu is an artist and writer based in Brooklyn, NY. Her illustrations have been featured in The New Yorker and Vogue. Her writing has received support from the McCormack Writing Center, Kenyon Review Writers Workshop, and others.
From the Artist
Dear katie, love katie is an art show exploring what coming of self in adulthood looks like. Through paintings, postcards, and photography, the show looks at different moments of my “coming of age” over the last five years.
I’ve always been drawn to coming of age stories. There’s something so seductive about the allure of finding yourself and figuring it all out in one pivotal adolescent summer. In my life though, I’ve found the coming of age to not be just one moment, but rather a continuing process into my mid-thirties. For me, it’s been the continued pursuit of common and intimately human desires—towards expressing and being understood, making meaning and finding purpose in our loves, towards loving and being loved. In this show, I wanted to explore what that looked and felt like.
After leaving the Bay Area and moving to New York City, I began a new ritual of mailing myself a postcard whenever I traveled. “Dear katie,” I began all my postcards. From there, I’d write out a small snapshot of the view from my trip—visual details, emotions, things I was thinking or feeling. “Love katie,” I’d sign at the end.
Mailing myself postcards from different countries also gave me a newfound appreciation for the wonders of snail mail and the international postal systems! There was something beautiful in this routine for myself about going back to pen, paper, and a stamp, even when more efficient modes of communication exist.
Receiving my own postcard in the mail once I got home from the trip (sometimes days, other times weeks later) was a delightful little practice, looking through a small window to my past self.
I hope this show can offer a similar frame for viewers to reconnect with past versions of their selves, to help shape who we want to become.
For me, it’s been pursuing my most human, basic desires—in search of art, hobbies, friendships, home— and in this show, I wanted to explore what that looked and felt like.
making art and expressing ideas, searching for everyday joy in hobbies, building a home and putting down roots.
Mailing myself postcards from different countries also gave me a newfound appreciation for the wonders of snail mail and the international postal systems! There was something beautiful in this routine for myself about going back to pen, paper, and a stamp, even when more efficient modes of communication exist.