ARTIST BIO

MK (Monica Kennedy) is an artist living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 2017, they received their BFA in Photography and Digital Media from the University of Houston and are currently attending the University of New Mexico for their MFA in Photography. They are originally from a small rural town by the name of Sulligent, Alabama, and this place has become a driving force for the mass majority of their work. 

Using found items, stories, and the longing to be back with their family in this small town. They work in a variety of mediums ranging from photography, printmaking and sculpture in order to pursue and question their upbringing, identity, family, and the terms of loss and memory. They have shown at institutions such as the Blaffer Art Museum, The National Hispanic Cultural Center and SITE Santa Fe.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Texas is where I existed for such a heavy transitional time of my life, having moved there with my family at around the age of 11 or 12; but Alabama is my home. Being from a significantly small town in Alabama, I have always been accustomed to a slower type of life. At one point in time we began to only go back home due to a family member passing. Home became a burial ground, a place to lay someone to rest, as well as a place to celebrate the life of our lineage. 

In my series “Reoccurring Family Matters”, I investigate the need for grounding in a homeplace, traveling back to my hometown with my parents as guides, photographing them as they visit family in hospitals or nursing home, clean burial plots, and enjoy the company of existing family. The vulnerability of witnessing my family hold on and then ultimately let go has become a way a new way of life, or in some light a passing of the torch.

SUMMARY OF PROPOSAL

I am seeking funding to travel back to Alabama in order to photograph family and my childhood home.

Lear more about MK here.