I am Kayla Je'wel Lucas, but you can call me Je'wel.

I draw inspiration from my journey through life as a Black American woman. I look to the nuanced experiences of the women in my family, my community, and throughout history to bring authenticity to my practice. My art practice centers figuration and portraiture, but I am currently adding abstraction and mixed media to my latest work to explore the layers and textures of the Black experience more fully through my lens. I am interested in the interactions of figure and space to create narratives and meanings aligned with how colors and shape evoke emotion. I hope that when viewers interact with my work, they experience a nostalgic connection that implores them to see their own experience within those my art depicts.