Paola Katherine Rodríguez (b. 1989) is a Dominican-American visual storyteller that examines identity and belonging, absence and presence, grief and loss, transformation and healing through analogue photography and interdisciplinary and community-based practices. Her lens-based work consists of portraiture, documentary photography, and street photography. She also experiments with multiple-exposure self-portraiture and photocollages.
Paola Katherine's works include:
Broken Free, a photo and text-based series that raises awareness of victimization while encouraging survivors to break the silence in order to end the violence.
In Transit documents the interaction between public transportation users and their spaces / environment, with emphasis on their sense of awareness—or lack thereof.
In losing my self, I found my self, a personal exploration of the phases of grief and the reintegration and transformation of the self, through self-portraiture.
Spark of my Life, a mixed-media memoir of life partner, music producer and writer Juan Alexander Caraballo (1979-2021), known by his DJ name Jonnie Sparko.
In 2025, an iteration of this work was on view as a solo exhibition titled Love Never Dies at IPC ArtSpace in Miami, Florida.
Paola Katherine is also the co-founder of the monthly photography & community building event #Photowalk305. Since 2019, she has been facilitating a space for photographers to explore and exchange knowledge and experience with one another, while building a solid photography community here in Miami.
Paola has exhibited work at Newspace Center for Photography, RedLine Contemporary Art Center, FIU Miami Beach Urban Studios, FIU Graham Center Art Gallery, Vizcaya, Little Haiti Cultural Complex, IPC ArtSpace, and has been a part of group shows including 9 Topics TRIAD at Arthill Gallery in London, UK and The Fifth Annual Exposure Award at Musée du Louvre in Paris, France, and others.
In 2026, #Photowalk305 was named Best of Miami 2026 best walking tour by the Miami New Times.
In 2025, her photography for the 2024 Goombay Festival in Coconut Grove was inducted into the Library of Congress.
In 2015, her project Broken Free was a finalist for FEAST Miami.
She was a featured artist at the Take Back the Night program at FIU for two consecutive years. She was awarded a scholarship at the 2014 FIU Thesis I Fall Review, for her series Broken Free.
She has been interviewed and featured on Artistíco RD, VoyageMIA, WokeWednesdays, She Shoots Film, TimeOut Miami, and FIU CARTA News.
Paola Katherine received a BA and a BFA from Florida International University in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
Under the name PaoPaoKat, she is a house music DJ who curates the underground deep house and tech house sounds from the 2010s and before, while continuing the legacy of her late partner, renowned Miami DJ Jonnie Sparko. She made her debut at Kill Your Idol during Miami Music Week in March 2026, and has since played at venues such as LunaSol Lounge and M2 Miami.
Aside from her creative practice and community engagement projects, Paola sings and performs with Miami Sound Choir, supports the local electronic and alternative music scene, makes photocollages and paintings, advocates for a plant-based and holistic lifestyle, and practices and teaches hatha yoga under her 500-hour Registered Yoga Teacher designation.
Paola Katherine is based in Miami Beach, for the time being.
