Kayla Story | Arts + Literature Laboratory | Madison Contemporary Arts Center

Kayla Story

As an only child in a single parent military home, with a near constant rearranging of surroundings, my understanding of how to build identity and relationships was fragmented from an early age. The collective struggle that plays out between individualism and populace, privilege and subjection, and comfort and upheaval are the curious dualities I find in the contextual behavior of humans.

 

Previously, I have taken these psychological processes and given them weight and consequence by daring my viewers to enter a box that obscures their own image from the world as they in turn view intimate recreated scenes of sexual harassment. In another project, I pulled aside an obstructing curtain from a portrait that re-emphasized also the portrait’s gaze upon my viewers, prompting them to contemplate the violence that is loaded in unwanted attention and the double standards of voyeurism. These investigations serve not only to connect my experience to that of other individuals, but also to engage my viewers with their own rarely questioned beliefs about themselves and what has brought them to seeing the world as they do.

  •  Photo credit: Jennifer Bastian
  •  Photo credit: Jennifer Bastian
  •  Photo credit: Jennifer Bastian
  •  Photo credit: Jennifer Bastian
  •  Photo credit: Jennifer Bastian

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Arts + Literature Laboratory is located at 111 S. Livingston Street #100, Madison, Wisconsin, 53703.

Our galleries are open Tuesday through Friday 10am-5pm and Saturday noon to 5pm, and other programs take place throughout the week. Please check the events calendar and education section for details.

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