Video still by Mario Gallucci, 2022
Artist Bio
Ka'ila Farrell-Smith is a contemporary Klamath Modoc visual artist, writer and activist based in Modoc Point, Oregon. The conceptual framework of her studio practice focuses on channeling research through a creative flow of experimentation and artistic playfulness. Utilizing painting, drawing with wild harvested pigments, and stenciling found metal detritus, her work explores space in-between the indigenous and western paradigms.
Farrell-Smith has work in the permanent collections of the Portland Art Museum, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Portland Building OR, the Seattle Convention Center Summit Building, WA and Missoula Art Museum, MT. Her work has been on view at Tacoma Art Museum, Out of Sight Seattle, WA Boise Art Museum, ID and the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC.
Farrell-Smith has worked as a community organizer for 20 years and participated in successful creative resistance to the Jordan Cove LNG projects. She continues to work on the front lines fighting resource extraction projects threatening the vast regions of Southern Oregon. Farrell-Smith is currently the lead plaintiff suing the State of Oregon Department of Justice’s Titan Fusion center for illegally surveilling her, violating her first amendment rights to Free Speech.
Ka’ila is a 2021 Hallie Ford Fellow and an inaugural 2019-2020 Fields Artist Fellow with Oregon Humanities. She received a BFA in Painting from Pacific Northwest College of Art and an MFA in Contemporary Art Practices Studio from Portland State University. She is represented by Russo Lee Gallery in Portland, Oregon.
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