Kate Ballis is a Melbourne-based fine art photographer creating unique, colour-drenched images using infrared technology. Seeing the unseen through this technological lens Ballis finds a foreign otherworldly quality in familiar landscapes and scenes.

Kate was born in 1985 and she lives and works in Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Statement
I use photography to explore themes of seeing unseen energy, and tell stories that catch a glimpse of a world that exists just outside of the human perception.
Working with a converted full-spectrum camera and infrared filters, I have been able to make already otherworldly places feel even more foreign to the earth we know.
Infrared light is emitted by plants via the photosynthesis process, which has made deserts such as Palm Springs, Joshua Tree National Park, Arizona, the Atacama Desert and the Uyuni Salt flats fascinating subjects.
Landscapes that appear muted to the eye and plants that seem dead, jump to life when strongly emitting infrared light.
I love that infrared photography enables me to “colour-block” as the various filters I play with allow infrared plus one or two other colours through to the camera sensor.
I carefully select the filter in order to best tell the story, sometimes subverting techniques that other photographers may use to make a landscape seem more familiar.
In my Infra Realism series, the colours aim to candy-coat California, and are perhaps subconsciously inspired by the lives and wardrobes of my Barbie dolls in the 80s, and TV ads for Disneyland.
My newer series that I am currently working on explore my heritage (the UK and Greece) via the mythologies of the lost lands, which I have researched for years.
The power of myths and storytelling mean that lost lands such as Avalon and Atlantis, although unseen and perhaps never seen to the visible eye, still have a place in people’s hearts, including mine.

Solo exhibitions
2024 Liminality Antipodes, Hugo Michell Gallery, Adelaide, SA, Australia
2023 Influorescence with Tom Blachford, Gallerysmith, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
2023 Portals to Atlantis, Ballarat International Foto Biennale, Ballarat, VIC, Australia
2023 Before Time, Arthouse Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia
2022 Atlantis, Gallerysmith, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
2022 Wonderworld, David Jones Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia
2021 Infra Realism: Lilac Lux, Gallerysmith, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
2020 Liminality, Gallerysmith, VIC, Australia,
2020 Hyperphantasia, Arthouse Gallery, Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia
2019 Palm Springs Art Fair, Palm Springs, FL, USA
2019 Spectrums of the Galapagos, Jardan, VIC, Australia
2019 Affordable Art Fair, ARTITLEDcontemporary, London, United Kingdom
2018 Hypercolour Fantasy: Infra Realism, Garis and Hahn, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2018 Pulse Miami Art Fair, Garis and Hahn, Miami, FL, USA
2018 Affordable Art Fair, ARTITLEDcontemporary, London, United Kingdom
2017 Glace Noir, Black Eye Gallery, NSW, Australia
2017 Infra Realism, Jardan, VIC, Australia

Group exhibitions
2024 Lost in Palm Springs, Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat, VIC, Australia
2023 Lost in Palm Springs, Manly Art Gallery and Museum, Manly, NSW, Australia
2023 Sydney Contemporary, Carriageworks, Sydney, NSW, Australia
2023 Environmental Art and Design Prize Exhibition, Manly Art Gallery and Museum, Manly, NSW, Australia
2023 Lost in Palm Springs, Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville, QLD, Australia
2023 Lost in Palm Springs, HOTA Museum, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia
2023 XV: Past, Present and Future, Gallerysmith, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
2022 Summer Salon, Arthouse Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia
2022 Sydney Contemporary, Carriageworks, Sydney, NSW, Australia
2022 Out of the Blue, Arthouse Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia
2022 Kings School Art Prize, Finalist, The King!s School, Parramatta, NSW, Australia
2021 Hundreds and Thousands, Arthouse Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia,
2021 Going Home, Hugo Michell Gallery, Adelaide, SA, Australia
2021 Coming Home, Arthouse Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia
2021 Fresh eyes: reimagining Robin Boyd!s Walsh Street!, Melbourne Design Week
2021 PAN Amsterdam, RAI Amsterdam exhibition centre, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2021 Bowness Photography Award, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
2021 Not Fair, Melbourne, curated by Ashley Crawford and Sam Leach
2021 Summer Salon, Arthouse Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia
2020 Renewal, Arthouse Gallery, Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia
2020 Summer Show, Arthouse Gallery, Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia
2019 Illusions, Backwoods Gallery, Collingwood, VIC, Australia
2019 Mixology 2019, ARTITLEDcontemporary, Herpen, The Netherlands
2018 London Art Fair, London, United Kingdom
2018 Art House Collective, Jardan, VIC, Australia
2017 Straight Lines, Black Eye Gallery, Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia

Art fairs
2020 Sydney Contemporary, Sydney, NSW, Australia
2019 London Art Fair, London, United Kingdom
2019 art KARLSRUHE, Karlsruhe, Germany
2019 KunstRAI, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2019 CCP Photo Fair: Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2018 The Affordable Art Fair Brussels, Brussels, BE
2018 The Affordable Art Fair Hampstead, London, UK
2018 KunstRai, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2018 Art The Hague, The Hague, The Netherlands
2018 The Affordable Art Fair Battersea, London, United Kingdom
2017 Art The Hague, The Hague, The Netherlands
2017 The Affordable Art Fair Battersea, London, United Kingdom

Bibliography
2019 Tired of Intellectualising Everything? This Photographer Is, The Design Files
2019 Spectrums of the Galapagos Photography Exhibition by Kate Ballis, Yellowtrace
2018 Jessica Klingelfuss, Infra Realism, Wallpaper
2018 Eleanor Gibson, Kate Ballis‘ infrared photography displays California modernism in vivid hues
2018 Laura Pitcher, Photographer Kate Ballis Makes your Palm Springs Vacation Photos look Basic, iD/ Vice Magazine
2018 Jessica Klingelfuss, Kate Ballis’ candy-coloured dreamscapes hit the sweet spot in Los Angeles, Wallpaper
2018 Felicity Carter, Kate Ballis Showcases a Hypercolor Fantasy in her Latest Exhibition, Infra Realism, Forbes
2018 Sara Tardiff, You’ll Never Look at Iconic Palm Springs Architecture the Same Way, Architectural Digest Magazine
2018 Nicholas Carolan, The Pink Print, Grazia
2018 Infra Realism: Deserts saturated with color in pictures, The Guardian
2017 First look: This Melbourne-based photographer has captured one of the world’s most beautiful natural attractions, Vogue Australia
2017 Elle Murrell, Kate Ballis, The Design Files
2017 Kate Lawson, In her Candy Colored Dreams, The September Issues
2017 Holly Black, Reimagining Californian Landscapes through Infrared, Another Magazine
2017 Hyper-real Perspectives, Aesthetica Magazine