Kiki Symoné
Kiki Symoné, has been honing her skills as a digital artist for the past several years. Originally a chalk pastel portraitist specializing in urban expressionism, Kiki blended her love of art, technology, and social change to bring about the perfect marriage of her passions. An alumna of the University of Windsor with degrees in Education and French, Kiki is self-taught in digital art and embraces a pedagogy of online teaching that is shared by a growing community of Millennial-era artists. Her medium includes both digital work and photographic prints which she encourages her audience to share in windows, neighbourhoods, on placards, and in the hands of friends and family in a movement to “lift up” the voices of her beloved community.
Kiki’s digital art depicts the everyday life of Black communities. Visually capturing cultural themes of family, history, education, as well as racism and social inequality, Kiki’s art has a global audience with recent exhibits in New York City, a feature on HGTV’s Urban Oasis and commissions in France, Spain, Australia as well as the United States and Canada. Her illustration of subjects navigating everyday environments allows Kiki to expand the boundaries of traditional depictions of Black people in art and the open faces of her subjects are a signature feature of her work that allows viewers to step into the portrait and realize their right to expression. Kiki creates her art to emphasize the beauty and strength in the relationships and actions that make up everyday life for the Black community.
