About Katherine Butler

I was born in the cradle of regional Australia, in Rockhampton, where ears operate differently. I was diagnosed with moderately severe hearing loss at 18 months old, and later, autism, when I waltzed through my teenage years, 1 being the lover of the number 6.

I am a documentary photographer, journalist and researcher with feet marching across the sea. I explore disability, culture, and life between Australia and Brazil. I am learning Brazilian Portuguese with a keen mind, and this study has transformed me. It’s more than just a language. It has changed my worldview on how communication and identity bleed differently across the definition of belonging.

My photography is about rituals and community. From athletes tearing muscles and growing stronger through determination, to tears shed in the communion of weddings, to everyday moments crawling between highlights—I am interested in something far deeper than the headline inked.

This too influences my journalism. It isn’t about the first few sentences. I aim to report on underrepresented voices, not to speak for them but to hand them the microphone and claim the stage.

My ears choked of noise, hearing aids gifting me amplification; I am deeply influenced by my experience as a deaf woman. Storytelling isn’t meant to be noise. I dissect beyond the noise, diving into the abyss to find the boons of observation. Presence matters. Details matter.

My work doesn't offer conclusions about voices, but questions why they're absent from public conversations. When you pay attention to their absence, you find truth in mankind’s capabilities.

Alongside my photography, which spans wedding and sports rituals to early milestones, I am completing a Master of Communication at Deakin. I am developing research and assessments focused on disaster communication and accessibility for the Deaf community.

The goal that trickles from the present to the future is a career built on journalism, documenting truth and research with a focus on Australia and Brazil.

When I am not working, I sit at my computer researching Portuguese and learning how to move my mouth differently—drenching my eyes in long-form journalism or creative fiction, travelling, or planning a project that begs a question, to learn more.