Local artist’s award winning work on display in Toronto

By Ry Clarke - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on October 26, 2022.

Herald photo by Ry Clarke Kaela Murphy's exhibit 'entangled' showcases real, drawn, and synthetic hair, on display at Casa.

Local artist Kaela Murphy is one of the eleven regional winners of the BMO 1st Art! Competition, winning with her piece ‘my hair’.

The 20th annual art competition selected Murphy from a record-breaking pool of 345 submissions, awarding her a $7,500 prize. Her piece, along with other winners, will be featured on display in the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery at The Art Museum at the University of Toronto from October 26 to November 19.

“It’s a little surreal,” said Murphy. “It’s such an honour and a really exciting experience for sure.”

The competition invites deans and instructors from undergraduate art programs across Canada to nominate three students from each of their studio specialties and submit a recent work. After two years of hosting a virtual BMO 1st Art! Event, this year will move to an in-person show to exhibit the artist’s works and showcase their talents. “my hair” is a piece inspired by Murphy’s body and image, and how hair is central to her identity.

“It’s my own hair, my daily lived experience, and has been for my entire life. It takes up a lot of space, and attracts attention,” said Murphy. “There are many times where that attention isn’t always necessarily positive. Where it begins to come into questioning my identity, my racial background. People touch me without my consent. So my practice focuses on working with my own hair, synthetic hair, and drawing hair.”

“my hair” is made with charcoal, using different forms such as mine, powdered, and compressed, and providing a three-dimensional look at her subject.

“I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember,” said Murphy. “My love for art was stemmed from my nana, my grandma on my mom’s side. She was always painting or drawing and I always had a bit of love for it as well. With the Bachelor of Arts program at the University (of Lethbridge) that was honestly a great place to help me develop my practice and grow.”

Now graduated, Murphy currently has an exhibit on display at Casa called “entangled” which will be shown until the end of the month.

“It contains multiple pieces all focusing around hair. It includes a drawing titled ‘my hair’ too, it is a second iteration of a drawing of hair from a different point in my life. It’s been approached a little differently stylistically from the ‘my hair’ piece which is not included in this particular exhibit since it is already in Toronto for the BMO exhibit,” said Murphy.

Looking to herself for insight into her art, Murphy’s work speaks to the way we interact with one another as individuals.

“I’m not trying to force a certain takeaway, I feel like everybody’s takeaway is going to be different based on their own experiences,” said Murphy. “Following that line of uncomfortable questioning surrounding my hair, I get a lot of questions. Whether or not it’s real, is it a perm, is it a wig? It makes for a very interesting encounter, to see how people engage.”

Using her art to tell a story, the piece teaches by opening up discussion on what it is and how we interact with those around us.

“Whether it’s somebody reaching to me without asking, or just saying please don’t touch me, ask first and also respect if I say no. Having those discussions and hoping that in the future they take those interactions into consideration. Hopefully that might change their future interactions with others,” said Murphy.

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