Katie Sfetkidis is a multidisciplinary artist based in Naarm (Melbourne) with a career spanning live performance and visual art. Working as an artist, lighting and video designer, dramaturg, teacher and mentor, much of her practice has been dedicated to championing feminist and queer histories.
Since 2018, her solo work has centered on participatory projects interrogating civic participation and public memory. These include: We the People (2022 - ongoing) - a multifaceted project - including social practice and archival research - that investigates legacies of activism and their influence on contemporary civic engagement within community. This project has been presented with support from Vitalstatistix, Testing Grounds, Platform Arts, and the Cities of Yarra and Geelong, and has engaged over 50 activist groups and individuals.
Photo by Breeana Dunbar
PRESENT/MEMORY: Women’s COVID-19 Time Capsule (2020–2022) - a socially engaged project created as part of her role as the Feminist Emissary for the Queen Victoria Women's Centre. Working with a diverse group of approx 20 women and non binary people from across Victoria, the project recorded and shared a series of often untold stories of the pandemic, offering an alternative narratives of the period.
The Mayor Project (2018) - a civic intervention where she ran for Mayor in the City of Melbourne By-Election, participating in all formal events (resident forums & candidate dinners).
Her visual artworks have been featured in a number of solo and group exhibitions, notably, Nasty Women (The Substation Billboard Galley, 2024) and The Feminist Poster Project (Fed Square & Melbourne Fringe, 2020–21). Katie has a ongoing relationship with the Women's Art Register archive and in 2025 she was commissioned to create a poster marking their 50 years anniversary. Her work also appears in two feminist art publications; Enough: Artists and Writers on Gendered Violence (2023) and Doing Feminism by Anne Marsh (2021)As a lighting designer and theatre maker, Katie has worked broadly across the sector with companies including; Joel Bray Dance, Ilbijerri Theatre, Melbourne Theatre Company, Malthouse Theatre, Belvoir, State Theatre South Australia, Aphids, Luke George & A Daylight Connection. She has toured extensively both nationally and internationally to festivals in Europe, the UK and India. Katie has lectured at the Victorian College of the Arts, Monash University and Collarts and actively mentors emerging lighting designers. She has won two Green Room Awards for her work and has numerous nominations. She was a member of the Green Room Awards Association from 2008 - 2024 and the chair of the Theatre Companies Panel in 2023- 24. From 2012-2018, she was Co-Artistic Director of queer theatre company Little Ones Theatre alongside director Stephen Nicolazzo and designer Eugyeene Teh.