Catlow was born in London, England and earned an BA (Hons) in Sculpture from the Falmouth School of Art (1987-1991) before moving on to a master's degree in Networked Media Environments at Ravensbourne (college), graduating in 2006.
[11] Since leaving academia to focus on her independent work and activities with Furtherfield, Catlow has continued to publish interdisciplinary texts, interviews, and commentaries - such as, Situating the Digital Commons.
[14] In late 2016, Catlow and Marc Garrett wrote the foreword to the book Intersecting Art and Technology in Practice: Techne/Technique/Technology edited by Camille C Baker and Kate Sicchio.
Her project Play Your Place, a collaboration with the American artist Mary Flanagan, creates a real-world game environment that promotes community values and contributes to urban planning; the work has been shown at the Southbank Centre and the Tate Britain in London.
[24] Catlow's piece Time is Speeding Up,[25] commissioned for the exhibition We Are Not Alone, curated by Michael Szpakowski at 20-21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe, was another playful use of digital technology to point to deeper, even existential dilemmas of the human condition.
Edward Picot writes, in the exhibition catalogue We Are Not Alone, that "the most noteworthy thing about it, by contrast with her other work, is the way in which her characteristic mixture of techniques, critique of digital culture, generosity of spirit and determination to engage with the audience are now contextualised and thrown into relief by a sharpening awareness of human frailty and the passing of time.