Kate Debbo
Image: Bianca Cate
“I want to make paintings about love, family, friends, and connection to home”
Kate Debbo is a visual artist whose richly layered paintings explore love, memory, and our deep connections to place and one another. Based in Western Australia, Debbo works intuitively with thick oil paint, building vibrant, abstracted landscapes that reflect both the joyful spontaneity of daily life and the emotional complexity of human relationships. Her works often begin with a clear compositional idea but evolve instinctively, sometimes completely reworking the surface, to reveal traces of personal and collective histories.
Her colourful horse portraits are recurring motifs, nostalgic and dreamlike, they act as energetic presences or ‘musical notes’ that guide the rhythm of each composition. These figures become comforting and universally recognisable forms amidst imagined spaces.
Drawing inspiration from her natural surroundings, daily walks with her dog, and the beauty in everyday moments, like a friend's lipstick or a piece of patterned fabric - Debbo paints from memory and feeling. “These works are painted from the heart of the child in me,” she says, “and I hope they speak to the heart of the child in you.” Her practice remains deeply rooted in play, curiosity, and a sense of emotional openness, echoing the freedom she admires in children’s artmaking.
Debbo has exhibited widely across Western Australia, developing a distinctive visual language that is textural, naïve, and painterly. Through each canvas, she offers an invitation: to pause, reflect, and rediscover joy in the everyday.
Works by the artist
