Kate Quarfordt combines photography, painting, collage and lumen printing to explore the cyclical movement of shapes made by sunlight reflecting off windows onto buildings and sidewalks – hieroglyph-like symbols she sees as a secret system of light language hiding in plain sight in the urban landscape. Quarfordt’s meditative, spiritually evocative mixed-media works invite viewers to temporarily unhook from the oppressive pace and constrictions of contemporary life and blur boundaries within their perceptions of what is urban and natural, fixed and ephemeral, masculine and feminine, strong and soft, bordered and free.

Her April 2026 artist’s residency at The Old Bailey Gallery explored connections between Birmingham's industrial past and the metropolitan growth of New York City. By bringing the reflected light of New York skyscrapers to Alabama's elemental source of iron production, Sun Glyphs evolved into a symbolic dialogue between North and South. 

The exhibition’s closing reception evoked the spirit of an artists’ salon, with a gathering of musicians responding to Kate’s artwork. Intimate live music performances by Chandler Jones, Earthen Herman and Mollie Schaefer-Thompson filled the room with sonic inspiration. Accompanied by the ambient artistry of Earthen Herman (Jake Carnley), Kate’s artist talk was delivered as an impassioned, eloquent spoken word performance. 

https://www.katequarfordt.com/