Katrin Bernhardt
Katrin Bernhardt is a visual artist and writer based in Austria. She studied Classical Archaeology and Philosophy with a focus on Gender Studies at the University of Vienna, where she earned her doctorate in 2013. Alongside her academic career, she was a founding member, singer, and lyricist of the metal band Xenesthis.
As a visual artist, she works with various media exploring themes of ritual, death, and gender. She reinterprets prehistoric and ancient rites, bringing them into a contemporary context. Another major focus of her work is a deep engagement with femininity, corporeality, and societal role assignments. Her practice includes installations, performances, interactive experiments, and painting in acrylic and mixed media—sometimes using menstrual blood. She places a particual emphasis on art in public spaces.
As a writer, she publishes poetry, prose, and self-illustrated children’s books with Austrian publishers, and is a member of PEN-Club Austria and the Austrian Writers’ Association.
Katrin Bernhardt has participated in international symposia and has exhibited in group and solo exhibitions in Austria and abroad. She has received multiple grants, project funding, and awards for her artistic work.