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Kayla Singh Griffin
USA
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“I developed a paralyzed stomach after a surgery gone wrong in 2019.”
Kayla Singh Griffin’s current series, Autoethnography: Life with a Chronically Ill Body, explores the hidden struggles of having a disability later in life. Depicted are self-portraits in various positions to display the emotive discomfort in a visual way.
Social Isolation - Loneliness | Mixed Media
$1,200
24 X 28
The figure confronts the viewer demanding to be seen. Kayla distorted the proportions of the face to create a strong focal point. Blue as the dominant color evokes cold feelings and the body begins to abstract - as if it would disappear if you stopped looking at it.
Kayla compiled her medical records, diary entries, and social media posts, and interviewed family members and friends during her first year of diagnosis, to inspire her works. This data was then coded into emotions; the most common ones are the guide for her series.
Social Isolation | Mixed Media
$2,400
24 X 24
In “Isolation,” you see a figure in a confrontational pose in the foreground, demanding to be looked at. The limited palette is analogous between reds and yellows. Kayla chose this color scheme because of the deep association with food – often evoking thoughts of fast food. As gastroparesis paralyzes the stomach, leaving the patient unable to eat many foods, these colors are distorted. Instead of being vibrant, like many logos use, they are muted and aggressively covered in mark-making.
These themes include isolation (loneliness), fatigue, grief, disassociation, determination, and more. Chronic illness creates complex, messy, and often overwhelming emotions – all of which Kayla directly explores. This series is designed to increase awareness and highlight a struggling community's hidden emotional parts.
“This is a series of abstract expression acrylic, charcoal, and ink paintings that shows the emotive side of chronic illness.”
These paintings are an ode to her gastroparesis support group which often goes unrepresented in the medical industry because of the lack of research into this specific chronic illness. This is a tribute to the struggles in daily life and the hidden discomfort patients live with.
Fatigue | Mixed Media
$1,000
24 X 12
This piece uses cooler-tinted colors that are also less saturated to create a sensation of fatigue. However, the image is high-key (bright) because people with chronic illnesses often try to hide their fatigue by masking it with fake energy.
The figure holds a mirror in which a more representational reflection appears. Covered in grief-driven marks, this body evokes a sense of yearning for its old body.
Grief | Mixed Media
$5,000
48 X 24
This shows the tension between a desire to eat and an inability. Further, the background is designed to look like an endless space where the figure is isolated from anything living. Eating is a social behavior and the inability to find joy in food often causes gastroparesis survivors to withdraw from social events with food, and/or, the guilt of their inability to eat leaves them uninvited to social events.
“Each of my paintings has multiple acrylic, charcoal, ink, and oil paint layers.”
“I chose this color scheme because of the deep association with food – often evoking thoughts of fast food. As gastroparesis paralyzes the stomach, leaving the patient unable to eat many foods, these colors are distorted. Instead of being vibrant, like many logos use, they are muted and aggressively covered in mark-making.”
Emotions are layered and never function in a singular way (i.e., sadness is often muddied by anger/frustration), the painting cannot be a singular layer. Each piece starts with an underpainting in which the body is accurately drawn and rendered, then Kayla begins the second layer using emotional intuition to begin the abstraction.
Losing Focus | Mixed Media
$800
24 X 18
Using a complementary palette and high contrast, Kayla creates a sense of drama and unease. The figure looks disturbed and at the same time disassociated. This is an ode to the inability to focus when ill.
As the body is broken down with each layer, Kayla begins mark-making. Using a psychic-automatism approach, she meditates on the emotion desired and allows her hand to guide her.
Causing My Own Problems | Mixed Media
$2,400
30 X 24
The figure holds up mirrors that reflect an abstract image. Oftentimes, we have control of more than we think, but emotions can make us do the wrong thing. We eat what we shouldn't which causes us pain. This is why the figure can put down the mirrors but chooses not to - the mirrors reflect the consequences.
Some portions remain rendered more expressively to hint at the hidden illness. Gastroparesis is not something you can see, so the body in the painting breaks down from what you can see and into abstract marks of complicated, confusing, and often dark emotions.
This figure is so distorted and abstract, only a hint at a human body, as disassociation leaves one feeling as if they are part of their surroundings. We know we exist, but at the same time, unsure if we exist within our own bodies.
Disassociation | Mixed Media
$500
20 X 16
“I intend to represent my physical, emotional, and mental experiences in a way that is authentic to other gastroparesis survivors.”
Diagnosis | Mixed Media
$500
16 X 20
When first diagnosed with something that has no cure many emotions arise. It is like a deep breath (vibrant colors) because you know what you are facing, then fear comes with frustration and grief. As if we are falling into the vastness of the universe.
Some pieces, like finding Confidence, deal with the brighter moments of acceptance, new joy, and hope, which is why the figure is more rendered. The more complex the emotion, the more prominent the mark-making.
This work examines the hope that follows acceptance. Though it is not easy, we can find love for ourselves and our bodies as they are.
Finding Confidence | Mixed Media
$4,500
40 X 30
Kayla aims to make these works inviting to look at and simultaneously hard to accept – much in the same way confronting diagnoses of incurable illnesses is. She wants to create a stronger community connection between people with gastroparesis and people unaware of the illness as this is the best way to foster a conversation on how to create spaces where social situations can still exist.
Learning to Dance Again |Mixed Media
$3,000
40 X 30
This work also examines the relief of knowing what you are facing and as you begin to navigate the complexities of care you can become more joyous.
“In “Isolation,” you see a figure in a confrontational pose in the foreground, demanding to be looked at. The limited palette is analogous between reds and yellows.”
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