Kilmany-Jo Liversage creates portraits that sit at the blurry boundary between fine art and urban art. Adopting the urban art language allows her to update, renew, and challenge the conventions of painting, while her rendering of female subjects is inspired by Renaissance-era portraiture.

The idea of “the gaze” lies at the heart of much of Liversage’s work. In feminist art theory, the concept refers to the long-standing dominance of the male gaze: for centuries, art largely depicted women as subjects to be looked at, recorded, and consumed through male eyes. This created a profound imbalance of power—one that reduced women to objects of observation rather than active participants.

Kilmany-Jo Liversage’s large-scale faces confront viewers directly, their unflinching stares reversing the roles and demanding engagement. Instead of passively receiving attention, her subjects hold the gaze, establishing a dialogue that carries a distinctly feminist undercurrent. This thread has run consistently through her practice for nearly two decades. She has developed a distinct visual language that combines the intimacy of portraiture with the raw energy of urban mark-making. Borrowing from street art practices such as tagging and aerosol spraying, she translates these gestures onto canvas, transforming them into symbols that hint at broader narratives of contemporary life.

‍