Born in Brisbane in 1961, Mackey has exhibited widely in selected group and solo shows since 1998. She has had six solo exhibitions since 2002 including shows at Brisbane’s popular Queensland Centre For Photography, Bulimba, Brisbane, at Monash Gallery Of Art, Melbourne and three exhibitions at Soapbox Gallery, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane.

Kathy graduated from Griffith University with a Master of Education in Visual Arts and is currently completing her PhD in Visual Arts Practice at Griffith University. The major focus of her work is Photographic Arts, cultural theory, mediated spaces and audiences.

Her work has appeared at Gold Coast City Art Gallery on a number of occasions since 1998, most recently in recent Gold Coast themed exhibitions such as Sold! A History of the Visual Culture of Real Estate in 2006, and Great Walks a project with Craig Walsh depicting the Hinterland in early 2006.

Kathy completed a photographic documentation project of Gold Coast architecture in November 2003 for inclusion in the All That Glitters, 50 Years of Gold Coast Kitsch and Memories in 2004 and her work also appeared in the exhibition By the Book in 1998.

Mackey was awarded the inaugural $10,000 William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize – one of Australia’s youngest annual awards consolidating her 2000 win in the Gold Coast City Art Gallery Conrad Jupiters Parks Victoria Residency.

Her work is held in major Collections including the Parks Victoria Corporate collection; Ipswich Regional Gallery; Gold Coast City Art Gallery and Private collections though out Australia.

Mackey recent installation practice uses the mirror as a navigational tool, allowing the viewer to explore their unique relationship between themselves, the artworks and the narrative. The directional gaze of the subjects and the mirror’s role in the act of “viewing” allows the audience members chart a course through the light and space of their own experiences.

The mirror stage reliquary series incorporates video and still images. The artist encourages viewers to move within spaces and to explore the interplay between the static photographic works, mirrors and the reflections cast upon gallery walls by the video work.

Mackey often uses friends and family members as sitters . Her recent practice features male and female figures in different stages of life. These images then give way to an aquarium filled with tropical fish which is then overlayed and presented with detailed depictions of skin, the substance and content of much of Mackey’s previous photographic works.

Her recent installations include purpose built curved walls, which present different experiences for viewers through changing the physical space of the gallery . The reflection of the still body is overlayed with iridescently coloured tropical fish caught on film creating an otherworldly experience.

The reflected snapshots cast by groups of strategically placed mirrors create portals upon the gallery walsl, and the artist captures small sections of the sitters’ bodies which become disconnected from the main projection and seem to float off and away into space.

In documenting the building process and observing the viewers response, Mackey continues her research into the relationship between viewer, artwork and the narrative.