Description
ARTIST STATEMENT
No Face, No Case explores the shifting relationships we have with our bodies and how they exist between vulnerability and control, intimacy and exposure. Using digital oil pastel renderings of myself, I rework moments of private image making into something both obscured and illuminated.
The figure is partially concealed by light, interrupting the expectation of full visibility. The body remains present, soft and detailed, while the face is withheld. This tension reflects the complexity of being seen. The body can be offered, observed, desired, and documented, while identity remains protected or fragmented.
This work moves through different states of visibility. A body can be sent, displayed, or held, each interaction carrying its own balance of power and risk. In this way, visibility is not fixed. The same body can feel submissive and powerful at the same time, depending on who is looking, who is holding, and who controls the image.
No Face, No Case considers what it means to take up space while maintaining agency. To be seen is not simply exposure. It is also a choice.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
I am Kayla Smith, a Black femme artist from the South Side of Chicago. My work is rooted in empowering and representing Black women and urban culture, capturing the beauty and complexity of everyday modern Blackness. Working across painting and digital illustration, I create intimate and expressive images that center the body, identity, and visibility. My practice explores how Black women exist within both private and public spaces, often navigating the tension between being seen and maintaining control. I draw from personal experience and my community to create figures that feel familiar while holding deeper layers of vulnerability and power. Through texture, color, and composition, I aim to highlight the softness, strength, and nuance within Black feminine experiences. My work resists one dimensional narratives, allowing my subjects to exist as both powerful and tender, visible yet self defined. I use my practice as a way to document, uplift, and affirm the presence of Black women and the cultural environments that shape us. By focusing on everyday moments, I aim to create space for recognition, connection, and representation.
© Kayla D. Smith