Biography

Raised in Regina, Kaela Murphy’s practice addresses the centrality of hair to Black identity. As a culturally and politically charged signifier, Black hair elicits awe and abject response, both of which she has navigated throughout her life. Unsolicited commentary and touch, as well as personal questions from strangers, have fueled Murphy’s approach around ethnicity and appearance. Murphy’s work examines how the removal of facial identifiers and engagement with hair pictorially and sculpturally affects interaction and emotion. Figures which become their own independent bodies offer explorations that reference how Murphy’s hair has become central to her perceived identity while also tangling notions of the individual and universal experience.

Learn more about Kaela's artwork here

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