INSIDE THE ARTIST’S STUDIO
Q&A with Kilmany-Jo Liversage


We’re looking at your works which will be part of a group exhibition in London entitled Against Interpretation? Please tell us a bit about how these works came into being – what was the starting point?

Portraying females as confrontational beings, eyeing the viewer with mistrust. Re-interpreting what being a female means in this century. Re-interpreting the expectations of the modern woman as opposed to what would have been frowned upon in previous centuries.

Painting portraits of women standing up against the patriarchal system and questioning our very existence.

In her 1964 essay Sontag argues that reducing a work of art to its content and then interpreting that, tames the work of art. How do you feel about explaining, interpreting your work for others?

My interpretation through process-making is breaking the subject matter into layers of mark-making. The process-making is symbiotic to the subject matter. The subject matter thus tames the method-making and creates a holistic composition.

How do you prepare your canvases/paper? Do you make sketches?

The beginning stage is free application, I do rely a lot on the accidental.

The initial stage is building the surface up and then sketching the subject matter afterwards…and sometimes I reverse the procedure.

Do you work on one piece at a time or shift between multiple works at one time?

I usually have about three works I work on simultaneously.

Some people listen to music or podcasts while they work others are absorbed in the relative silence of
their studio. Please set the scene for us in your studio…

Music is ESSENTIAL to my working experience. I work with earphones on. I love all genres of music, but hip- hop and triphop, really gets me working energetically.

What do you do when you reach an impasse; a work just isn’t coming together as you’d envisaged?

I do something new over it…I have no sentimentality towards my pieces. Usually, the mistake becomes the gateway to a new creation.

How do you know when a work is finished; what are the triggers for you?

When it stops bothering me.

What are some of the emotions you experience when you finish an artwork?

I go through a myriad of emotions…It’s a love/hate emotion… A microcosmic life journey all in one painting…

Do you have a ritual when you finish a work or a body of work - cleaning your studio & starting afresh?

I’ve tried to change my ways, but I always fall into the same ritual. When I’m busy producing a body of work…My studio is organised chaos. On completion, I do a ritual clean up.

Download the full interview here