Newspaper Clippings
Laylah Ali
From her studio in Williamstown, MA, Laylah Ali discusses her system of organizing newspaper clippings. She gathers the clippings to discern the overarching narrative of what the media is reporting on at the time. From there, she clips away any interesting images and categorizes them into a series of files, bearing names such as “Corpses,” “Fire and Explosions,” and “The American Flag.”
Featured artists
About the artists
Laylah Ali creates her small, figurative, gouache paintings on paper with such precision that it takes her many months to complete a single work. She meticulously plots out every aspect of her work in advance, from subject matter to choice of color and the brushes that she will use. Her paintings resemble comic-book serials, but they also contain stylistic references to hieroglyphics and American folk-art traditions. Ali often achieves a high level of emotional tension in her work as a result of juxtaposing brightly colored scenes with dark, often violent subject matter that speaks of political resistance, social relationships, and betrayal. Although Ali’s interest in representations of socio-political issues and current events drives her work, her finished paintings rarely reveal specific references.
