Katherine Sepúlveda (b. 1999, Stamford, CT) is a multidisciplinary Colombian-American artist based in Brooklyn, New York. In her practice, she utilizes both painting and installation to create maximalist works informed by the rich visual culture of femme, Latinx identity. Her works examine grief and serve as devotional objects in which she searches for a resolution to the perpetual alienation felt from her heritage, family history, and American identity. White, heterosexual womanhood is often challenged through representations of queer hyperfemininity and satirical depictions of her religious upbringing. Her works are informed by personal narratives, often referencing the consumption patterns of working class migrants, family archives, and catholic devotional imagery. She has participated in solo and group exhibitions in New York, New England, and Baltimore. Her recent solo exhibition, Halloween House, was featured on Hyperallergic’s list of 15 Art Shows to See in New York City. She received her BFA in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2021.

Through scenes depicting the rich visual culture of femme, Colombian-American identity, Sepúlveda’s work explores themes of religion, queer hyperfemininity, and generational cycles. Latinx maximalist aesthetics are tightly woven together to create pocket universes typically made from acrylic and found material. Her portfolio examines the manner in which the consumption patterns of impoverished individuals of color are subject to scrutiny. Immersive installations both literally and figuratively take up space, queering the principles of art and elevating styles arbitrarily deemed low-brow. Compositions featuring biblical themes, apocalyptic imagery, cosmological concepts, and depictions of personal narratives, simultaneously allude to and dismiss references to trauma, isolation, and loss. Through satirical depictions of archangels, nuns, and the Holy Ghost, her paintings deconstruct and reclaim symbols of oppression. Her work cycles through recurring motifs, interrogating the lasting legacies of colonialism and presenting hyperfemininity as a form of radical gender expression. The past is often revisited in a potentially futile attempt to understand the ever-evolving present. Her work is informed by family archives, Catholic devotional imagery, and landscapes within New York City and its suburbs paired against snipits captured from daily life in Colombian metropolises.