Kerra Taylor uses painting to tell stories that both connect viewers to their own experiences and allow room for individual interpretation. She draws from memories with family to depict them in everyday settings with unusual circumstances, creating tales that are simultaneously familiar and fantastic. By taking scenes out of context, Taylor's paintings imply narratives that viewers can complete with their own pasts. This gives viewers a sense of belonging within stories that have been shaped by generations to reflect their times.

1. Kerra Taylor
Artist Statement
The theatrics of storytelling is a powerful aspect of culture and is a means to create
another reality that stretches beyond our ordinary lives. When exploring the stories
around us or expressing our personal experiences, each generation finds a way to make
these stories reflect their time. People, often being family, tell us these stories and
attempt to connect us to the world by illustrating who we are and where we come from.
This correlation between history and the present gives us a sense of belonging. Without
these stories, I feel disconnected from that awareness of my place in the grand scheme
of things.
Stories are told through many mediums. My work exploits the narrative potential of
painting. A painting, however, cannot encompass the entirety of a narrative, but it can
imply a narrative. It functions more like a single scene from the story rather than the
whole story. When we take a scene out of context, we are left to fill in the gaps. For
every person, for every story, their interpretation of the scene will be unique. In this
manner, I allow room for the viewer to enter into my paintings and complete the stories
with their own past experiences.
I playfully fabricate memories with my spouse, parents, siblings, and in-laws, as I fill in
the holes caused by the loss of stories. I take into consideration the various
personalities, quirks, and typical environments that my relatives and I live in. My
paintings are embellishments of personal experiences with family. By putting them in
these normal settings with such unusual circumstances, I create my own stories, both
familiar and fantastic at the same time. It is in these extraordinary situations that we
find the stories that are more worth telling.