hello!

Thanks for dropping by my page! Well, a little ramble about me…

I'm an Australian woman and when I am here, I live on the unceded lands of the Darkinjung and Awabakal people, near Newcastle, New South Wales.

When I was a child, I had a next-level fascination for atlases, I poured over maps and my favourite magazines were the Geographics. I was fascinated by all things wild. In my heart, I wanted to be an adventurer and an explorer, with my camera, paintbrushes, and pen as my tools to capture the world as I saw it and to hear what it was trying to say to all of us. 

About a decade ago, I was given the opportunity to have a blank canvas. To chase those childhood dreams. To chase the wild life. 

It’s taken me from backpacking and couchsurfing through the Americas by myself (but never alone, as there are always people to meet on the road), to driving kombis through New Zealand, swimming with dolphins in the South Pacific island nation of Niue, and living in the remote Canadian wilderness.

Increasingly, I have realised I love the secret places. The untouched. The places that steal your breath. It's often in these secret and pristine places, that you meet the most interesting of characters too. People who challenge what we think we know. Or that an animal will stare straight into you.

I wear many hats. Some days, I work in communications and as a writer. Some days, I run an art school and studio. Sometimes, I explore photography in the wild and at odd events. Sometimes, I do carpet laying and try out different trades. Occasionally, I spend a five-month sabbatical every few years and go adventuring.

Currently, my main projects are running the art studio and art school in Catherine Hill Bay and working on the next instalment of my lifetime body of work, A Wild Abandon. It’s a body of work that has no deadline. I hope to keep adding to it from every place I go. And to see it keep evolving as I do. It’s an exploration of people, planet, and place. Of land and home. Of the animals, elements and plants. Of women and the wild. The wild women within and the wild around us. It reflects and explores the constructions we build and the ones we need to challenge.

One of the recent works features my Chilcotin Adventure in Canada and a larger adventure I took through the North American wilderness in 2016. It became a travelling exhibition and has evolved even further into a 7-piece slow fashion collection with my incredible friend, Karina Olen, for the debut collection of her clothing brand, Karina Olen Label. Karina has truly given it a new life.

I also like to potter around with Studio Carragher, a joint art studio with my super talented Mum, Sue, and my sister, Abbie. A couple of times a year, I head out with Chris Bray Photography on a photography adventures into the wilds of Tasmania & Kangaroo Island - and we have been trying to get me back to South America (bloody COVID!). These are always moments to treasure.

I’ve worked a lot of wild gigs - as a Grizzly Bear Guide, Whale Whisperer, Dive Master, and somehow a sponsored adventurer for Kathmandu. I love the feeling of being immersed in nature and I hope to also add Wombat Sanctuary Owner and Safari Guide to this one day.

On the more corporate end of my career, I have had some interesting times. Worked as Chief Speech Writer for a tier of Government, delivered election campaigns lobbying for the rights of regional and rural communities and the environment, and wrote feature stories on some of the best scientific researchers of our living generations. I’ve also worked very hard to try and break down discrimination surrounding trauma and connective tissue disorders.

They all taught me something. Whether it was power, persistence, or prose. It is those skills from my corporate career that I wish to combine with my passions and creative pursuits to make a difference.

My best work is when I let all my practices collide and when I follow my passions and my heart. It is also when I am given the time to reflect. I want to let a place speak to me so I can see what it has to say and what it and its environment needs. It might be just sharing its apparent beauty through a painting, photography, or prose. Or it may be that there is a need for funding for research or conservation or a particular animal or region needs awareness to protect it.  

Sometimes I realise the best thing I can do is to not tell the story at all.

I let the place decide...and tell the stories that need to be told. Through the means it picks.

In the process of exploration and learning about the world, I hope I can also learn more and grow as an artist, writer, photographer, friend, lover, citizen, and as a human. 

Draw, explore, write, take flight.
Oh keep it wild, keep it styled.
Most of all - be love and see love.
Capture it all x

in the news

Fên Hóng Sè, November 2019
Karina Olen - A collaboration between Karina Olen and Kate Carragher

Newcastle Mirage, February 2018
Influence-hers by Kian West

ABC Newcastle, 2014 - 2018
'Used to Live There, Now Live Here' Interviews with Paul Bevan and Rosemarie Milsom

Central Coast Express-Advocate, January 24, 2018
Two Coasties in the running for Discovery Channel Internship by Richard Noone

Newcastle LIVE, September 2017
’Exhibition opening: A Wild Abandon - Awaken the Bear’