******'A Visual Autobiography of Abuse & Neglect'******

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Catana is a 45-year-old professional artist, freelance writer and community and political activist who currently lives in Reno, Nevada with her husband of more than twenty-five years and their three children (two in their twenties and one teen). Catana holds an A.A. Degree in Art from Rogers University in Claremore, Oklahoma, and a B.A. Degree in Art with an emphasis in painting and photography and a minor in journalism from the University of Nevada, Reno. During her junior year at UNR, Catana applied for, and received, an Undergraduate Scholarly Research and Creative Project Grant for her advanced photography project which is being presented on this website.

Since graduating from the University of Nevada, Reno, Catana has become an International and National Award Winning Fine Artist by entering and showing individual pieces from her art project, "A Visual Autobiography of Abuse & Neglect" which consists of 43 Black & White images with text and an accompanying thirteen-page timeline.  

One of the provisions for receiving the Undergraduate Academic Scholarly Research and Creative Project Grant was the commitment to using this project to invoke further academic and artistic endeavors including exhibitions. This website was put together to compliment the recognition that this project has already received and to honor the commitment that was made to the grant committee that helped, in part, make this project possible.

This project was very intensive, and took over a year to complete. A significant amount of time (about seven to eight months) was spent just on the alternative process to create the text under each image.

More uses for this project are currently being researched.

Catana is an activist/artist who hopes to create and promote social change through the arts. Currently, she is working on another art project.

This project was born and created during my junior and senior years in the University of Nevada, Reno Art Department (2000/2001). For several years I created many pieces of art based on my history of abuse and neglect, but none of them ever felt like they were actually conveying the message I wanted them to, or how I wanted them to. It ended up being a combination of my painting professor, Michael Sarich, my photography professor, Peter Goin, and an announcement for an *Undergrate Scholarly Research and Creative Project Grant in my Contemporary Art class that changed everything. I asked for some help with how to write the grant proposal, and I managed to get through the first part of the process just fine. However, my application was delayed because the grant committee wanted me to explain how and why art applied to my project (I thought it was obvious). I wrote a second letter and tried, articulately, to explain how art applies itself in a scholarly way, and why I was using art as the medium for the message. About a month later, I was awarded the grant for my photography project.

*My classmate, David Torch, and I were the first two artists to have ever received this particular grant.

I would also like to say Thank You to everyone that helped with, and supported, this project!

Read the full article.

This website contains as much information about "A Visual Autobiography of Abuse & Neglect" as possible to illustrate the process I went through as both an artist and a student by undertaking this kind of project.  The information also shows what I have done with the project since my solo show at the University of Nevada, Reno in 2002.

More projects are in the works.

WARNING! Some of the images and text content may offend some people. This is an exremely candid project about abuse and neglect.

Using the NEXT, PREVIOUS, and HOME buttons located at the bottom of each page will allow you to navigate through the entire website (there are 61 pages in all).

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