Katelyn Kopenhaver
Women’s liberation and power have undeniably grown and flourished since the ratification of the 19th Amendment. I am thankful for those women, their supporters, and their courage in granting women the right to speak. However, there is still a dark reality waiting to be exposed about the nature of predators and their penchant for purchasing children and women. Jeffrey Epstein having both prominent connections to republicans and democrats has come to symbolize sex trafficking and child trafficking in the modern age.
His social circle was full of political and Hollywood elite, including Prince Andrew, Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Harvey Weinstein - to name a few. It’s not all men either. British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell worked as his primary female recruiter to bring in vulnerable underage girls for Epstein to have sex with. She is currently awaiting trial at The Metropolitan Detention Center, for July 2021. Epstein was likely murdered to conceal the network of wealthy business people and politicians who he regularly met with. As women, we have the right to vote, as well as the right to not be manipulated, sexually abused, harassed, stalked, abducted, raped, and purchased.
The predator banner is a site-specific photography performance where I walk in the footsteps of two of the most horrific, repugnant, evil individuals known in 21st century America - Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
Originally from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, and 2016 SVA alum, Katelyn Kopenhaver’s work examines universal issues wrought with consternation through social commentary. She exposes the subtle and not so subtle nuances in our every day that are often overlooked or covered up and combines that with her personal experience and sometimes, fears.
Working in photography, video, performance, and installation, Kopenhaver’s conceptual works and performances interrogate atrocities that society has been conditioned to accept or has come to ignore. She uses text and the body to confront the viewer and place them within situations of isolation. Kopenhaver is preoccupied with societal oversight, those crucial moments that are seen but forgotten, the glimpse of an act between two people that alarms us, an instant where we ask ourselves “should I intervene?” She has had numerous photography publications, exhibitions, and artist write-ups both nationally and internationally including New York Magazine, The Brooklyn Rail, and Netflix and is in collaboration with jewelry company Article 22 and exhibition with Pen + Brush “THIS IS WHO WE ARE” at the Maggi Peyton Gallery, at the Office of Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer. As we speak, Katelyn is currently working on a documentary film, with the working title “Who is Behind the Mask” exposing the human experience during coronavirus.
Katelyn is based in New York City and works as a freelance photographer and artist.
instagram: @katelynkopenhaver
