ULTRAVENUS: Your work seems to focus almost exclusively on the female form. What is it that draws
you to the female body?
KATE ROBERTS: I have a deep love and respect for the female body. I find it fascinating and beautiful
and from the first time I picked up a camera I knew it was going to be something which would feature in
my work for a long time to come. I was drawn by its versatility, its capacity to hold and carry so many
significant connotations; and as I learnt about feminism it became a kind of obsession of mine.
UV: You use yourself as a model in many of your images- why is this? Do you find there are many
drawbacks? Through all the guises you take, do you ever reveal much of “yourself”?
KR: I started photographing myself out of necessity – I had ideas I wanted to execute while they were
fresh in my head but didn’t have any models. This became pretty common and during my time at
University I learned what photographing myself really meant, the implications it had on the work I was
already making. There are plenty of drawbacks but I have had a lot of practice and I like pushing myself
on both sides of the camera.
UV: And, amongst all these portrayals, how do you think you would describe yourself within your
imagery?
KR: The majority of my work is concerned with identity. I believe everyone is made up of lots of different
selves and that especially when we’re growing up this can be a weird, conflicting feeling. I use my work to
let out versions of myself I’m not comfortable with really becoming; I wouldn’t go as far as describing it
as exploring alter-egos but I think its important we let ourselves at least play at being something other than
what people see of us everyday.
UV: We love the dark sexuality portrayed in your series “Noir” that we have featured in issue 1. Can you
talk us through the narrative of these images?
KR: This work was sparked by my love of crime and drama films, but the more research I did the more it
developed into a kind of feminist commentary on this type of entertainment. Some of my favorites were
guilty of ‘missing white woman syndrome’ and I wanted to create something which an audience could
latch on to but would also have a perhaps deeper meaning. The ease in which people find and follow the
narrativ