Mima Cataldo is a feminist artist and a women's rights activist known for her social justice photography.
Career in education Mima Cataldo was a professor at Syracuse University. She taught sociology and advised on academic projects. Cataldo also worked for the Tiburon School District in Northern California.
Seneca Women's Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice Cataldo photographed the 1983 Seneca Women's Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice in the summer of 1983. Along with Ruth Putter, Bryna Fireside and Elaine Lytel, she published a book about this event in 1987. The book was dedicated to feminist peace activist Barbara Deming. Cataldo included a photo of Deming in her book talking to a group of women who attended this encampment. The publication included numerous pictures including some of the participants doing physical work to build the camp.
In 1987, Cataldo was quoted in the Sunday Democrat and Chronicle newspaper stating, "This was history in the making as far away as we were concerned. I think it was the first time I saw the women's movement take a radical step for peace." She donated the negatives from the photos she took to the Schlesinger Library in 2015.
Feminist photography Cataldo is well known for her feminist photography and has participated in numerous art shows. She has taken photos of feminist events since 1969.
1976-1977 In 1976, Cataldo's work was featured at Sister Bear Bookstore in Liverpool, New York, alongside the work of Ruth Putter, Ginny Lloyd, Courtney Frisse, and Judy Ivry. In 1977, she participated in an exhibit at Le Moyne College Art Gallery.
1980s In 1984 her photo of anti-nuclear war protesters in Syracuse was published in the Syracuse Herald-Journal. In 1986, Cataldo's photography was featured at Syracuse City Hall in an exhibit organized by the Syracuse Commission for Women.
2002 In 2002, her work appeared at the Central Library in Syracuse.
2010 In 2010, Cataldo hosted an art exhibit with Ruth Putter in Syracuse, New York at ArtRage Gallery. In March of that year, she hosted an event about photography as social activism for radical women in San Francisco.
2017-2018 Cataldo took photos of the fires in the North Bay region of California in 2017 and 2018.
2025 Cataldo participated in a 2025 exhibit at SFAC Galleries in San Francisco.
2026 In 2026, Cataldo's work was featured in a poster highlighting 250 years of people's resistance published by Syracuse Cultural Workers.
Personal life Mima Cataldo is the daughter of Anthony Cataldo, a lawyer, and Ada Cataldo who performed on Broadway. She graduated from the University of Michigan in 1965 where she earned a degree in music. Cataldo earned a master's degree from Columbia in 1972 and a Ph.D. from Syracuse University in social science in 1979. While studying at Syracuse in 1978, Cataldo signed a letter of protest against Queen Farah from Iran coming to speak on campus to protest the Pahlavi Dynasty.
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