Kayla Griffin

B. 1990, CA.

My work exists in the space between tension and tenderness. I explore the

dichotomy of di!icult emotions and lived experiences, trauma, memory, and

survival, set against the resilience of joy. For me, joy is not naïve optimism but a deliberate, resistant act. Each piece is intended to be visually inviting yet emotionally unsettling, asking viewers to hold the coexistence of beauty and discomfort.

I draw inspiration from liminal spaces, nostalgia, and the fragments of memory that shape how we navigate our world. My influences include Dorothea Tanning, Steven Kenny, Ferdinanda Florence, and Kazland, whose approaches to surrealism, narrative, and atmosphere inform the emotional cadence of my own work.

Through painting, I aim to create moments where viewers feel both understood and challenged to be moved by a sense of hope and also confronted with the truths that underlie it. My practice is rooted in the belief that art can hold space for contradiction: pain and joy, fragility and resilience, past and future.