We asked each artist in Cohort 3 a series of questions about how they navigate the world and express themselves through their practice. Here’s what kiarita had to say: 

Good: When did you first realize that making art was essential to how you move through the world?
kiarita: I came to understand art-making as a channeling of energy that requires the fullness of presence with the work; it isn’t merely a meditation but a consistent practice in grounding and the nuance of expression.

Good: What parts of yourself do you feel most seen in through your work?
kiarita: I feel most seen in the reception of my work as intended—creating spaces in which the very community I am honoring in the work is fostered by the work.

Good: How has your understanding of your identity shaped the way you create?
kiarita: My sense of devotion and fortitude emerges from crucial aspects of my culture, but understanding the nuances of generational trauma has led me to seek out new understandings of loving through chosen family.

Good: What story do you think your younger self needed to see in art—and are you telling that story now?
kiarita: My younger self needed to see more intimate representations of platonic closeness; intimacy tends to be inherently interlinked with sexuality, when really, it is boundless.

Good: How do you navigate the tension between visibility and vulnerability in your work?
kiarita: Being deeply intentional about the work’s presentation is crucial to safeguarding its vulnerability. Creating installations in which the work generates an aura of safety, love, and tenderness acts partly as a form of protection.

Good: What is a misconception people have about your practice—or you—that your art helps correct?
kiarita: I can’t speak to misconceptions people have about me; those are their own!

Good: How do your surroundings—physical, cultural, emotional—show up in your work?
kiarita: The reclamation and reinvention of discarded objects is a sort of heritage, passed down from all of my grandparents—resourcefully and inventively acting out of necessity.

Good: If this chapter of your life had a title, what would it be—and how is that reflected in your current work?
kiarita: This chapter of my life has definitely been about relational understanding, in every sense of the word. My practice is a means of channeling the feelings within this learning.

Good: What truth have you been circling in your work but haven’t said out loud yet?
kiarita: Performance, interaction, and installation, I’m realizing, are integral to the praxis of my practice—revealed to me recently through the execution of my debut solo show, home[body].

Good: If you had to strip everything back—materials, audience, career—what would remain at the center of your practice?

kiarita: The nuances of intimacy. The very presence the work necessitates from me requires that I abandon external concerns—audience, career, resources even—to channel as directly as I can.

About kiarita:

kiarita (b.1999 Hackensack, NJ) is a Brooklyn based artist of Dominican descent. Their work tends to proximities of the intimate and differing notions of home by painting and collaging objects into found furniture. They hold a BFA in Visual and Critical Studies from the School of Visual Arts and are a current Bronx AIM as well as New York Van Lier Trust Fellow. They have received honors from the Rema Hort Mann Foundation and the Sylvia Lipson Allen Memorial Fund and have been featured in numerous group shows nationwide, though primarily showing in New York City.