Institute for Gender and Development Studies

Biography

Kathryn Chan's work at the IGDS includes innovation and creative direction towards print and online media, within the scope of the UWI marketing guidelines, extending the visibility of the department and the regional institution. A Visual Artist and Design Thinker, key principles of ethnography inform her work in marketing, branding, documentation and archiving at the IGDS. She produces promotional materials, media campaigns, publications and data for IGDS print production and online portals. She has created and produced logos and supporting material for several conferences, symposia, workshops, national and regional campaigns and more.  

She was a Bunting Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (Harvard University, 2002-03) and holds an Masters of the Arts in Design Entrepreneurship, Faculty of Humanities and Education, UWI, that focused on archiving icons and family histories and a BFA in painting with a minor in anthropology and Latin American literature (Parsons School of Design, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and Carnegie-Mellon,1985). She has taught at tertiary level (Central St. Martin’s College of Art, London) and at secondary level (Ministry of Education, Trinidad and Tobago). She is the progenitor and Curator of Folklore to Festival: a Celebration of our Cosmos (UK and T&T 2000) and Midnight Robbers for "African Worlds” (Horniman Museum Ethnographic Collection, London, 1997). She has published curatorial and ethnographic articles for the Trinidad Guardian, T&T Review and UWI Today. She has held visual arts fellowships and residencies in Mexico, Scotland, Italy, USA and Trinidad and held exhibitions of visual and installation works in Trinidad and USA, designed for contemporary dance and theatre (UK and Trinidad) and for carnival (Callaloo Company, Trinidad) including Associate Designer, Opening Ceremonies 1996 Olympic Games - Atlanta and 2002 Winter Olympic Games - Utah, USA. Recent production design projects include Romanza (Queens Hall), Jab Molasie (Little Carib Theatre, 2014) and TedXPort of Spain 2014 through 2019. 

Recent art installations and works include "Another Life" Circles and Circuits at the California African American Museum (CAAM), Los Angeles, California and "Measure of a Life" Circles and Circuits at Chinese American Museum (CAM), Los Angeles, California. 

"I hope that the blue teddy logo will live on for many generations just as the red ribbon for HIV/AIDS awareness has."