Sharona Katan is a visual artist and photographer who also uses the professional name Shin Katan. She is married to Radiohead musician Jonny Greenwood, but her career includes gallery exhibitions and credited music artwork. She also came up with the original idea for the 2015 album Junun.
In this article, we’ll look at her art, her part in the album, and the work behind its images. Let’s start with the name that appears on her creative credits.
Quick Facts
- Name: Sharona Katan
- Professional credit: Shin Katan
- Work: Visual art, photography, album artwork, and art direction
- Family connection: Wife of Radiohead musician and film composer Jonny Greenwood
- Documented exhibition: Stilleven, O3 Gallery, Oxford, 2010
- Notable project: Junun, released in 2015
- Documented contribution: Original concept, co-art direction, and cover photographs for Junun
Who Is Sharona Katan?
Sharona Katan is a visual artist and photographer who also works under the name Shin Katan. She is married to Jonny Greenwood, the Radiohead guitarist and film composer. Her art has appeared in exhibitions and on music releases. Most notably, the official credits for the 2015 album Junun name her as the person who first came up with the project.
Many fans find her name while reading about Greenwood. But her work is not limited to photos of her husband. It includes gallery pieces, album images, art direction, and ideas that helped bring musicians together.
That record gives a better starting point than gossip about her personal life. It lets readers see what she made, where the work appeared, and how it became part of projects heard around the world.
The Difference Between Her Name and Her Art Credit
The artist is known publicly as Sharona Katan, while some of her professional work carries the name Shin Katan. That second name appears on her portfolio and in record-label credits.
This can confuse people who search for her photographs. A music label may credit Shin, while an article about Greenwood may use Sharona. The two names point to the same creative work.
Her work is not an informal hobby attributed to her by fans. The record-label credits connect a named artist to specific images and a production role. That distinction is useful when readers want to know what she actually did.
Sharona Katan has a body of work that can be studied apart from the public life of Radiohead. Keeping the credit name clear makes those projects much easier to find.
A Photography Practice With More Than Portraits
Her portfolio calls the work photographic sculpture. That phrase points to an approach in which a photograph can also be a physical art object, not merely an image printed for a frame.
The website groups projects by period. It includes work from the early 2000s, followed by further projects in 2007 and 2008. These entries show a practice that developed over time rather than one created for a single album release.
Her archive also includes group activity linked to Mannish Trousers in 2009. This places her among other artists working on their own ideas and exhibitions.
Sharona Katan’s photographic practice therefore belongs to an art setting as well as to the music world. The gallery history adds context that a celebrity marriage story would miss.
The 2010 Stilleven Exhibition in Oxford
The artist’s official Shin Katan portfolio records a 2010 exhibition titled Stilleven at O3 Gallery in Oxford. It says she showed large prints there.
A gallery show asks viewers to spend time with images rather than glance at them while listening to a song. The setting gives photographs a different role: the work is the focus, not a cover for something else.
The portfolio’s earlier projects help place this show within a longer practice. It was not her first recorded visual project, and it was not dependent on the 2015 album that later made her credit easier to notice.
For Sharona Katan, the exhibition is a concrete sign of an independent art career. It is one of the strongest details available to anyone trying to understand her work beyond a famous family connection.
Album Artwork and the Link Between Sound and Image
Music fans often focus on the players and composers, yet an album has a visual side too. Its cover is often the first image a listener sees. Photography and design can help express the mood of a record without changing a note.
Shin Katan has made artwork connected with Greenwood’s projects. Her official archive places albums beside her other visual work. It shows how an artist can move between the gallery and the recording world.
Nonesuch Records has also used images of Greenwood credited to Shin Katan in its publicity materials. A verified photography credit says more than a vague claim that she helps with his career.
Sharona Katan works at a point where an image can become part of how people remember music. Her role is visual, while the recording credits identify the musicians who made the sound.
The Original Idea Behind Junun
One fact sets this story apart from a standard profile. The official release credits say that Sharona Katan conceived the original project that became Junun. This is not the same as taking a photo after an album was finished.
The record joined the work of composer and singer Shye Ben Tzur, Greenwood, and a group of musicians from Rajasthan, India. Their meeting brought together several musical traditions and different ways of working.
A project idea alone does not replace the musicians’ work, but it can create the chance for a collaboration to happen. The credit shows that her contribution started before the final album artwork.
Sharona Katan also had a named role in the visual presentation of the project. The recording is a useful example of how concept, performance, photography, and design can all help shape one finished release.
How the Junun Sessions Took Place
The musicians recorded in 2015 at Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur, India. It was an unusual setting for an album, with players from different backgrounds making music together in the same space.
The tracks were built around Ben Tzur’s compositions. Greenwood helped arrange and produce the record. Nigel Godrich handled recording and mixing duties, while the Rajasthan Express musicians brought instruments and vocal styles central to the sound.
Filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson documented the sessions. His film shared the project’s setting and working atmosphere with people who would never visit the recording location.
In its official album credits, Nonesuch Records names Sharona Katan as the original project creator, with Shin Katan and Ian Patrick credited as art directors. This directly connects her creative role to the finished work.
What She Made for the Junun Release
The label lists cover photographs and artwork by Shin Katan. It also names Ian Patrick as her partner in art direction, with Patrick responsible for booklet design and photography.
These are different jobs. The cover provides the main image for the release. Art direction helps guide how the visuals fit together. A booklet needs its own layout and images to accompany the record.
Keeping the credits separate matters. It gives each person the work the label actually names, rather than assigning every part of the release to one individual.
For Sharona Katan, the record combines more than one part of her practice: the starting idea, the visual direction, and the cover image. That range is the clearest evidence of her place in this project.
Junun as Both an Album and a Film
The music and the film share the title Junun, but they are not the same work. The album collects the performances. Anderson’s film documents the musicians and their time together.
The movie premiered at the New York Film Festival in October 2015. The album followed in November. The two releases gave audiences different ways to understand the collaboration.
Photography adds yet another view. A still image can focus attention on one moment or setting, while film follows people through time. An album cover gives the music a public visual identity.
The project therefore joined sound, moving images, and photography. Sharona Katan’s credited work belongs to that shared creative setting, without making her responsible for the film’s direction or the musicians’ performances.
A Creative Partnership, Not a Shared Job Title
Greenwood is best known as a guitarist, arranger, and composer. His work with Radiohead and his film scores placed him in many recording studios and performance spaces.
His wife’s portfolio and album credits show a different discipline. She works with images and visual presentation. The couple’s creative worlds can cross on a project without becoming the same career.
That is clearest on Junun. He helped make and produce the music, while she was credited with the original project idea and much of its visual identity. The different credits make the collaboration easier to understand.
For Sharona Katan, being associated with Greenwood does not erase her own authorship. Her name appears where a professional contribution was made and recorded.
How Her Work Can Be Verified Today
A clear way to explore her work is to start with the Shin Katan portfolio. It shows early projects, exhibitions, and an archive of album images under her working name.
The Nonesuch release page adds another layer. Its production credits list exactly who helped create the music and the artwork. Those credits are especially useful when many online biographies repeat broad claims without naming a project.
Together, the two primary sources establish an art practice over several years and a major collaboration in 2015. They give the subject a stronger identity than scattered personal details can offer.
Sharona Katan has kept much of her private life away from interviews. Her public creative record still offers plenty to appreciate: photographs, exhibitions, and ideas turned into finished work.
Final Thoughts
It is easy to treat the partner of a famous musician as a small part of the musician’s story. Here, the art itself points in another direction.
Sharona Katan has exhibited visual work, made photographic images, and helped shape a music collaboration that reached far beyond one household. The official Junun credits show that her role began with the project’s idea, not just the final cover.
Her identity is that of an artist with a documented body of work. The most memorable part is how an image-maker helped bring a musical idea into the world.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Shin Katan a separate artist?
No. Shin Katan is the name used for the credited visual work of Sharona Katan.
Did she compose the music on Junun?
The album credits name Shye Ben Tzur as composer. She is credited with conceiving the original project and with visual work.
Who directed the Junun film?
Paul Thomas Anderson directed the film that documents the recording sessions.
Was her only exhibition in 2010?
No. Her portfolio shows other art projects and exhibitions, including work from years before 2010.
Who shared the art-direction credit on Junun?
Ian Patrick was credited alongside Shin Katan for art direction.
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