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Laylah Ali

Part of the Greenheads Series

Laylah Ali's art is ambiguous. The forms take on a gender neutral and race-less form. She doesn't give much in the way of clues about what they are suppose to be about (Although since 2015 she has been working on a project named Acephalous where it's the exact opposite- very sexualized and gender conscious and racial). She wants the viewer to decide for themselves what the meanings are. She is meticulous in her work. She plans and plans before she even begins to execute. She tends to use gauche and she also like to put her narratives in the form of a comic strip. Her work is neat and precise, but her figures are not true to life, they are more illustrative and cartoon-like. She will often take a current event or picture from current event and create some changes and draw her figures into the scenes - with the new figures not being exactly like the real life counterparts the viewers is able to see the event in a different light. In the beginning her work was largely about an act of violence, but her later work shows the before or after of an event - usually a violent one. Leaving more up to the viewer to interpret.

Something she said that made me think about my process and my evolution as an artist was  that “when you’re a student, you’re heavily influenced by other artists. You learn from them and discard things. It wasn’t until about five years after my junior year at college when I made something that felt like it was my own—really my own and successfully done.” I'm still waiting for that moment. I'm still following briefs and assignments. This semester may be the most liberated semester I've had, but I know I'm still trying to find my voice and figure out what art I can make that will truly be my own.


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