Khalilah Birdsong creates large-scale abstract paintings and
installations that combine physicality of medium with finely
calibrated balance. Her process employs loose, free gestures and
has deep roots in her surrounding environment. Whether
hunkering down in the North Georgia mountains, studying at
Goldsmith's in London, or relocating to the rain forests of Maui,
Hawaii, Birdsong surrounds herself with nature and ferevently
explores its influence. Such effects are sensationally evident in
her work.
The show title stems from Audre Lorde’s poem, “A Litany for
Survival” which Birdsong also used to title the largest painting
in her Goldsmiths Master of Fine Arts Degree show. The artist
created work based on thought experiments around how we shift
and change our circumstances. These paintings offer a litany on
how we might recalibrate in life.
Khalilah Birdsong was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1977 and was raised in Atlanta, Georgia. Creating
large-scale abstract paintings and installations, she has exhibited with galleries in Atlanta, Georgia,
Cincinnati, Ohio, New York, New York and Hamburg, Germany. The artist has had solo and group
exhibitions in the United States, Japan and Italy. Birdsong’s paintings are in private and corporate
collections around the world, including commissioned works. The artist currently lives and works in
London.
In 2019, the abstract painter was named by Contemporary Art Curator Magazine (London,
England) as “100 Future Contemporary Artists in the World.” Birdsong was invited to participate in
the XIIth Florence Biennale in Florence, Italy where she exhibited four large-scale paintings and
installation work in the fall of 2019. In 2020, she was awarded a Hambidge Fellowship for the
Creative Arts & Sciences.