Catherine Just (b. 1968) is a Los Angeles–based interdisciplinary artist working with large-format film, Polaroid, and alternative photographic processes. Through photography, hand stitching, printmaking, and sculptural intervention, she investigates intimacy, longing, belonging, and the emotional landscapes that exist beneath language.

Rooted in nearly four decades of sobriety and shaped by a personal apprenticeship with don Miguel Ruiz, author of The Four Agreements, Just approaches image-making as a contemplative practice of listening, repair, and transformation. Her work often moves beyond the photograph itself, treating the photographic surface as an object to be altered, stitched, torn, written upon, or physically reconstructed. Material becomes metaphor, revealing the fragile architecture of memory, identity, and human connection.

Rather than documenting the visible world, Catherine creates spaces where emotional experience can take physical form. Working with slow photographic processes and the unpredictability of light, chemistry, and the handmade, she embraces imperfection as evidence of presence. Each work becomes both artifact and offering, inviting viewers into moments of vulnerability, tenderness, and recognition.

Her work has been exhibited internationally in Paris, London, Milan, Australia, and throughout the United States, and has been published on the cover of National Geographic and in O Magazine, among other publications.

Catherine is the single mother to her son, Max, who has Down syndrome. In select collaborative projects, their work explores visibility, ableism, care, and inclusion, extending her ongoing investigation into what it means to belong and to be fully seen.

Catherine Just
Interdisciplinary Artist | Fine Art Photographer | Mentor
Based in Los Angeles.
studio@catherinejust.com | @cjust

EDUCATION

BFA in Conceptual Photography, Film & Video
The Minneapolis College of Art and Design, 1992

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2026
Upcoming exhibition in November, Alta Vista Arts Gallery, Paris
Open House 7, 3C Gallery, The Reef, Los Angeles
Not in Focus: Instant Photography Show, LMF Gallery, Los Angeles
Photo London, 3C Gallery, London
Milan Photo Fair, Alta Vista Arts, Milan
UNSEEN, Curated by Richard Chow of 3C gallery, LMF Gallery, Los Angeles
Celebrating Los Angeles, Curated by Michael Rababy, The Hive Gallery, Los Angeles
Femina, Curated by Sal Taylor Kydd, 169 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
ATLAS, Juried by Paris Chong of Leica Gallery LA, Los Angeles Center of Photography, Los Angeles

2025
She Persists / Elle Persiste, Alta Vista Arts Gallery, Paris
Afforadable Art Fair, Fabrik Projects Gallery, NYC
Artist / Proof, The Makery, Los Angeles
Contemporary Visions, Fabrik Gallery at bG Gallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA
Los Angeles, OFFUS Gallery, Los Angeles
Photo London, Fabrik Gallery, Somerset House, London
MIA Photo Fair, Alta Vista Arts Gallery, Milan

2024
She is Present, Alta Vista Arts Gallery, Galerie Couteron, Paris
OFFUS Gallery, Bendix Building, Los Angeles
Tryst International Art Fair, OFFUS Gallery, Torrance, CA
Chasing the Fog: Learning How to Breathe, OFFUS Gallery, Los Angeles

2023
Group Show, Alta Vista Arts Gallery, Galerie Couteron, Paris
PBA & Associates, Beverly Hills, CA
WhiteWall Art Projects Gallery, New South Wales, Australia

2022
WhiteWall Art Projects Gallery, New South Wales, Australia

2021
Laurel Canyon Open Studio, Los Angeles, CA
Monochrome, WhiteWall Art Projects Gallery, New South Wales, Australia

2020
Photos de Femme, Château Lomenie, France
Photos de Femme, Château de LaLande, France
Art in Isolation, North Dakota Museum of Art
WhiteWall Art Projects Gallery, New South Wales, Australia

2018
The Polaroid Show , Brooklyn, NY
Duncan Miller Gallery, Les Rencontres d'Arles, Arles, France
Home, SE Center for Photography, Greenville, SC
The Shed Collective Pop-Up with MOPLA, Los Angeles

2016
She, Pop-Up Art Show with Jennah Ferrer Foronda + Fantine Reucha, Paris

2015
Personal Project, LA Center of Photography, Los Angeles

2014
The Mobile Photo, MN Center of Photography, Minneapolis, MN

2013
Cell Phone Exhibition, Lenscratch
Love + Lust, Open to Interpretation, Lenscratch

2012
Love, Lenscratch Online Photography Magazine

2011
Self Portrait Group Show, Gallery 122, Minneapolis, MN

2005
Juried Show, Newspace Center of Photography, Portland, OR

2001
Group Show, The Darkroom Gallery, Portland, OR
Abajo del Río (Solo Show), Forbidden Fruit Gallery, Portland, OR

PUBLICATIONS & PODCASTS

Selected features from 2003–2025:
Into the Deep with Catherine Just Podcast (Host, 2020–present)
Rachel Anzelone : Pleasure & Profit Podcast (2025)
L'Œil de la Photographie Magazine (2025)
The Art Talk Magazine, Zurich, Switzerland (2025)
National Geographic Magazine (Cover)
O Magazine Online
Rangefinder Magazine
PDN (Photo District News)
Shots Magazine
Lenscratch
The Candid Frame
Light Leaked
Digital Photography School
Refinery29
DanielleLaPorte.com
The Desire Map, Book by Danielle Laporte (Author Image)
PsychCentral.com, How to Unlock Creativity
Enso Radio Interview
White Hot Truth with Danielle LaPorte, Author Image
Inside Story with April Adams
Dream with Dan Podcast, Dan Mangena
Lane Kennedy Podcast
Into the Deep with Catherine Just Podcast (Host, 2020–present)

AWARDS & HONORS

2026
ATLAS, Juried by Paris Chong, Director of Leica Gallery Los Angeles,
Honorable Mention

2020
Photos de Femme, Château Lomenie, France
1st Place: The Crown
Honorable Mention: Self Portrait in Paris
Honorable Mention: The Stitched Heart
Honorable Mention: Day 23 of Quarantine

2014
The Mobile Show, Minneapolis Photo Center
Honorable Mention

RESIDENCIES

OFFUS Gallery, Los Angeles (July 2024 to March 2025)

TEACHING & MENTORING

Courses & Programs
The Visual Poetry of Self Portraiture, Los Angeles Center of Photography

Online courses through catherinejust.com:
Make the Work NMFW
The Deepening : Fine Art Photography Mentoring Program
Self Portraiture as Medicine
Art as Medicine
Conceptual Photography 101
From Good to Great Self-Paced Photo Course
Bedside Stories - Release Internalized Ageism using self portraiture as a tool for transformation
The Daily Miracle / In Plain Sight

Mentorship & Healing Work
1:1 Mentoring for Women Artists and Women in Recovery
EFT Tapping and NLP techniques : 1:1 Sessions

Retreats & Experiences
Artist Retreats in Paris and the South of France, 2016 - Present
Photography Sessions (Capturing Breath on Film): France, Morocco, Italy, Canada, US, Mexico, 2016 - Present

Email: support@catherinejust.com

NEWS

SHE PERSISTS / ELLE PERSISTE
Opening Reception: November 8th 6-8pm
Book Signings: November 13th 5-7pm
Finissage: November 15th, 6-9pm
Open Daily: Tues-Sat 2pm-7pm
Rue Chapon, 8
Paris 75003

Featuring: Marian Crostic, Alexandra DeFurio, Sarah Hadley
Joan Haseltine, Bootsy Holler, Catherine Just,
Sal Taylor Kydd, Erica Kelly Martin, Lisa McCord,
Marjorie Salvaterra, Aline Smithson, Dawn Watson