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“Migrations” by Kelli Scott Kelley
In 2019, the worldwide teen-driven climate strike movement deeply moved me. At the time, I’d been trying to fnd my way into a new body of work. The iconic images and words of climate activist Greta Thunberg riveted me. I was mesmerized by photos of this humble, waif-like child, who through her super powers had captivated the world, and inspired the largest climate demonstration in human history. Using screen-captured video stills and photos as reference, I began making drawings of Greta. The pen and ink wash drawings were an opening that ofered a way forward. Through the process of carefully observing her powerful child-like appearance, something began to emerge. The drawings, inspired by Greta, evolved into the series of paintings, Migrations. Since 2010, I have painted on re-purposed domestic linens. The surfaces reference the history of women’s handicrafts and allow for a more ecological art making practice. These fabrics, often hand stitched by the original owner, and aged with use, hold stories and histories, ofering me clues of how to proceed. The Migrations paintings each depict a lone female nature fgure who lumbers through food waters, seeking refuge. In a large central panel, titled Ofering, a
chimeric creature has emerged on an island, where she kneels, making an ofering before an animal-robot. An exhibit of that work opened in February 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S. Louisiana State University, where I am a painting and drawing professor, shut down. Thrust into the whirlwind of a global pandemic, the devastating news that my 82-year-old parents had tested positive for the coronavirus, and teaching art classes remotely, my studio practice came to a screeching halt. Miraculously, after many scary weeks, my parents recovered. When the spring semester fnally ended, I was back in the studio, face-to-face with blank walls, and my demons. My 23-year-old adult child
Kelli Scott Kelley, Black Bird, 2020. Charcoal on Trader Joe’s bag,12 x 13.5 inches.
QUAD • SUMMER 2021
It is not unusual for me to have doubts about my practice; to contemplate the relevance of and purpose for my art (making). Over these last few extraordinary months, the overlapping catastrophes of climate change, COVID-19, and the murder of George Floyd have infamed my existential questionings.
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