Kayla Motley

BA Painting with Animation Minor

Social: @artbykayla.co

ARTIST STATEMENT: I have always had a love for art and my current focus is painting. My paintings involve different attributes that can range from abstract to realistic. I am drawn to painting using photo reference rather than creating images from my imagination. In my recent works are paintings created with the intention to fix my internal issues. Painting specific images of my challenges help create a visual reminder of my issues as I work through them. 

Reflection is an acrylic painting that exhibits a partially nude female inside of a mirror. The mirror represents what I see myself as, not a reflection of the audience. I chose to include gold and teal colors. The color teal is used as it is the color that represents awareness of sexual assault (SA). The color gold is used to be a reminder that there is light at the end of the tunnel due to the reflection of the gold leaf paper. Greyscale is included within the figure to give the effect that she feels that she does not have any life left in her. I chose not to include any background images in the mirror in order to direct the attention solely to the figure.

Reflection is a painting that explicitly shows the emotions and trauma I have experienced. It depicts the raw truth of SA and also delves into negative body image issues as a result of the experience. I created this painting with the intention of helping myself recover and also in hopes to let others know that they aren’t alone.