Grace Kisa
I was born in Nairobi, Kenya. Through my father’s profession as a senior economist, our family was afforded the opportunity to live in Nairobi, Kenya, Addis Ababa Ethiopia, Gaborone Botswana, Toronto Canada, and McLean Virginia, before I settled in Atlanta Georgia.
These experiences challenge the idea of identity, specifically as it pertains to “third culture kids.” A third culture kid is a term used to refer to children who were raised in a culture outside of their parent’s culture for a significant part of their developmental years.
Drawing on my experiences of growing up in these communities, my sculpture reflects the relationship between myself and the world around us. The materials that I use vary just as greatly. I am compelled by the notion of recycling and repurposing, adapting ordinary things using some traditional crafting techniques that are drawn from my Kenyan roots, combined with painting, pyrography, wood working, ceramics and resin.
Starting with a pile of odds and ends, including but not limited to kitchen utensils, broken furniture, discarded guitars, etc. I combine them like pieces of a puzzle to come up with the initial idea for the structure of the piece. My process is improvisational, and I am open to however the piece develops. Clay or resin are used to form the heads and
hands, to give the piece character. The sometimes metal frame is built out with sisal fiber, wood, cable ties, plastic bags, rebar wire, paint, pyrography, gold/silver leaf to give the piece expression.
My process is a combination of creative play and problem solving and reflects the patchwork quilt of these experiences. These elements and many others become the basis for my reinterpretation of the world us. By taking what is familiar and making it new, I create a narrative that engages history, folklore, myth, social awareness, the idea of timelessness, and the complexity of identity.
Find Grace online:
Instagram: @studiokisa