KEMBA KAI

Pulling inspiration from her vibrant culture, the experiences of the women that came before her and her own - Trinidad born Kemba Kai drafts visual narratives that showcase the many phases of growth and a motley crew of emotions via the female form. As she figures out who she is as a woman, and as an artist, her art has begun to tell a story about the woman she’s becoming, the women she’s befriended and the women she has yet to encounter.

Heavily influenced by Frida Kahlo, Willem de kooning and Egon Schiele, Kai favors blending figure abstraction and blank space and/or cluster colors in her pieces while distorting the female figure in the process. With an emphasis on ultra-feminine body parts with charcoal smudges and contrasting harsh strokes, her work typically depicts complexities of her personal life or interpretations.

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“So much of my work is about what it's like being a woman. When you're younger you think ease comes with age and that never happened for me...or anyone other women I know personally. A woman dealing with transitions. A woman at her strongest, her weakest, to her darkest moments to the blips of joy. She's my inspiration. I'm inspired by the almost phenomenal women of the world” - Kemba Kai