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 absence 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.
Kerra Taylor was born in 1985 in Kansas. She studied at University of Central Missouri and received her BFA from Missouri State University. Kerra received her MFA at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She currently resides in Springfield, Missouri as a Per-Course instructor at Missouri State University.