Catherine Edgerton is a Durham born-and-bred artist who interrogates the hoax of sanity in the context of white-supremacy culture. She refracts images through multimedia collage, kaleidoscopic play, SCUBA diving instruction, and surrealist space-making to invite creative lens-shifting toward the imagination of new worlds. 

She has been inking, layering and stitching mixed-media records in hand-bound books since she was fourteen. She builds in layers, re-binding myths of “good” mental health. The books morph into larger works, climbing out of their own spines. She carves, stitches, and shines light through pages, paint-slingingly elated to be an accomplice to their out-break onto new planes.

In expansion of this work, Edgerton invites lens-shifting through stained glass. She uses transparent objects—bug wings, film slides, brake lights—to build kaleidoscopes and TV lanterns, juxtaposing the mundane with play to create surreal visions of patterns and light. A sailor and dive-instructor by trade, her most recent work reflects images of bleaching coral and masked figures, illuminating the tension between the myths and realities of whiteness.

Having exhibited throughout the southeast, Edgerton does much of her work in and with community. She co-initiated the Durham Art Asylum, which builds creative pathways and reduces isolation among folks who struggle with mental health and addiction in Durham, North Carolina. From this work sprang the uprise of multiple community art projects and collaborations that employ kaleidoscopes, SCUBA diving, and archiving to engage abolitionist practices with a creative lens. She is currently the lead organizer for Queen Street Magic Boat, a mixed-use art space and surrealist hub for building and sustaining visionary community connections through water, the arts, and wild imagination.