Katherine Akey is a San Francisco-based artist and public historian whose work explores themes of tenderness, love, and memory. Her practice spans photography, fiber arts, sound, video, and creative writing, with an emphasis on materiality and storytelling. She engages with archives, objects, and personal histories to create multilayered narratives that explore the passage of experience from lived to remembered, memorialized, and forgotten. She holds an MFA from the International Center of Photography (ICP) and is currently Acting Director of the Harvey Milk Photo Center in San Francisco. 

Her work as a historian and storyteller centers on the First World War and the transformation of collective memory. A Fellow with the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, she produced the official U.S. World War One Centennial Commission podcast for three years, bringing the war’s history and legacy to a national audience.