LaShae Boyd
Columbus-based, contemporary mixed-media artist LaShae Boyd draws on pain and trauma to tell stories through her colorful acrylic and pastel paintings. Though she began making art at just 8 years old, she began to form her true artistic language in 2020, she says.
“A lot of my art is about healing from past trauma from childhood,” Boyd says. “My art has brought me to understanding connection and what that means to me. Whether it’s connection with God, or connection with my community, or connection with myself, it’s just kind of been a form of therapy.”
Art, Boyd says, is how she detaches from past wounds and finds power and purpose. She uses unique mediums that bring together different elements to illustrate her feelings.
“I like to add collaging and different things like glitter or pastels,” Boyd says. “Whether it’s through texture or whether it’s through color, these are like different languages I use to further the storytelling … within each painting.”
Boyd is preparing for an upcoming solo exhibition at Brandt-Roberts Galleries this fall. She plans to expand her repertoire by incorporating installations.
"My art has brought me to understand connection and what it means to me." -LaShae Boyd
The exhibition, Safe Spaces, is based on recorded conversations between Boyd and her artistic subjects as she photographs them. She asks about their past struggles and perspectives before painting them and, ultimately, building an immersive art experience to tell their stories.
“For the actual installation itself, I was thinking about creating these spaces where you’re listening to a recording through a CD player and it’s sitting on a nightstand … like you’re at home,” Boyd says. “And then, as you’re looking at the paintings, you’re listening to the recordings and you’re listening to the actual conversation, so it’s a sensory experience.”
LaShae Boyd
Boyd was recently commissioned to create a piece for the Columbus Museum of Art, which she titled Portrait of Jonathon Johnson (2023). She was asked to derive the piece from an existing work, Portrait of Andries Stilte II (2006) by portrait painter Kehinde Wiley.
In this painting, Boyd says, she wanted to mimic the regal portrayal and African-American empowerment that Wiley is known for.
“I pretty much created my own atmosphere,” Boyd says. “I was just trying to emulate Black (royalty), Black power, reclaiming … the power of Black royalty.”
Above all else, Boyd says, she’s proud of her healing journey and growth – overcoming fear, anxiety and unhealthy comparisons. Now, she says, she can be herself in her artwork.
“I think that when life gives you a lot of pain and a lot of confusion … you start to build fear in your own capacity to be someone in life,” Boyd says. “I used prayer, and I stayed close to God, and I journal. I do all these things to help me free myself from fear, and I just put it into the work.”
LaShae Boyd
Frances Denman is an editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
