The Constellations Project honors the lives of LGBTQ+ Elders through painted portraits and storytelling using audio recordings. The elders engage in a four-week oral history recording and portrait painting capturing their life reflections. After the four weeks, queer youth are presented with the documented stories of the elders and create an artwork based on an element from the story that brings them hope for their own future. The project will create an entrance point for dialogue on intergenerational community and care. The portraits, youth artworks, and audio are exhibited together periodically.

This project acknowledges how many LGBTQIA+ people have not had role models nor a blueprint of what life might look like as an aging adult. The Constellations Project is rooted in honoring non-biologic family stories as our own queer ancestry and its legacy while promoting connection with the community. 

Constellations of the night sky have shared stories and guidance throughout time, and The Constellations Project takes its name from this sentiment. Constellation is not only an inclusive word for those who surround, care for, and support us but also a reminder of the presence of these guiding lights, inspiring curiosity and wonder if we take the time to look.

This project is made possible through the support of the Side Street Projects artist residency program and Pasadena Community Foundation.

Future cycles of the project are supported by acceptance into the 2024-25 SAGE Equity Innovation Lab

About the Artist

Kate Muehlemann Cataldo is a visual artist, end of life doula, and founder of Constellations of Care. Their organization provides end-of-life support and advocacy for LGBTQIA2S+ people and preservation of legacy. Her artistic practice is influenced by the vulnerability and empathy cultivated in caregiving and themes of queer identity. The Constellations Project draws on her experience in home hospice nursing, end of life care, portraiture, and teaching teen and youth art.