Kathy Barry is based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. She has a Postgraduate Diploma in Art History from Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington (2001) and an MFA from Elam School of Fine Arts, The University of Auckland (2004). 

In 2024 her work was included in the major international group show Duty of Care at IMA/ Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane, curated by Stephanie Berlangieri, Robert Leonard and Angela Goddard. In 2023/24 she was recipient of the C Art Trust Award https://carttrust.nz/. Her first substantial survey exhibition, Energy Work, was a two-person exhibition with Sarah Smuts-Kennedy, curated by Christina Barton at Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery in 2022. In 2016 Kathy’s work was represented in INCERTEZA VIVA the 32nd São Paolo Bienal, curated by Danish curator and writer, Lars Bang Larson, who included her work in Believe Not Every Spirit, But Try the Spirit at MUMA/ Monash University Museum Art in Melbourne (2014). She staged Homeworld, a two-person exhibition with Isobel Thom, at Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery in 2014, after completing the artist residency at McCahon House followed by a residency at the Vermont Studio Center in the USA in 2012.

Her work is included in numerous public and private collections, including Victoria University of Wellington Art Collection; National Library of the Netherlands; The University of Auckland Art Collection; Wellington City Council Art Collection; The Collection of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade; The Arts House Trust Collection; and The Suter Collection.

Kathy Barry will present new work as a solo exhibition with Melanie Roger Gallery in August 2025.  This will be her first time showing with the gallery.  To register interest: info@melanierogergallery.com