Kilaine Shelley

Instagram: @kilaineshelley.studio

Website: https://kilaineshelley.com

Bio: Kilaine Shelley is a queer, disabled painter and draftsman based in Orlando, Florida. Their introspective work reconciles past and present to address their relationship with care, pain, and illness. They graduated from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art, specializing in drawing and painting. Their work has been shown at the Kennedy Center, The Chained Gallery, and UCF Gallery.

Statement: My work contrasts unforgiving ink washes with tender, memory-like charcoal and acrylic washes to position the body within intimate spaces, addressing the vulnerability of living in a queer and disabled body. Through fragmented layers of pencil and paint, my work invites the viewer into private everyday scenes, expressing a surprising tenderness that can come alongside inhabiting a body with overlapping and at-risk identities. In response, I ask the viewer to engage with their own relationship with care, illness, power, and pain.