Kelsey sits across from me on her patio, fairy lights dim against the warm summer sky. Instead of coffee, we’re drinking beer in preparation for a night of goofing around with our friends. She’s making a friendship bracelet, ignoring my instructions on how to properly braid beads onto string. Her hair is bleached a white blonde, and she’s showing me her latest tattoo. Her arm is covered in small pieces of her, from a simple floral vase to a Selena Gomez tribute.
The first thing I learned about Kelsey was that she’s an artist. She's one of those people who's always doing something –– starting a camp, redesigning a doll house, making a green screen music video. Seeking out the next project always seems to be in the forefront of Kelsey’s mind; I’ve never seen her stay bored.
We met at work, as many friends do. We bonded over how shitty our workplace was, as many friends do. It was the way she constantly tried to improve a bad situation that really drew me to her. I knew that so long as she was in charge, things would never be terrible (and even get better). We quit in the same week, a bond I am proud to share with a person who taught me to stand up for myself, who would encourage rebellion against the worst kinds of people. I loved feeling like I was good at something, because Kelsey thought I was good.
I wanted to know more about her. Sometimes someone can be in your life and it’s hard to piece them together, to understand how they became the person they are. I want to know why people make what they make, why creativity comes to naturally and how they manage to be so darn cool.
Kelsey, You Deserve a Coffee
(but a beer was all I could offer)
My main idea for this interview was to learn about how Kelsey’s brain works. She’s a wedding photographer, camp counsellor, and artist. She created the character Whyte Girl, has been Reddit famous, and has other artists renovating doll houses during COVID.
Here we go!
Me: You’ve done a lot of schooling, more creatively than most. What made you want to go to OCAD?
Kelsey: I always knew that I was creative –– I just can’t draw. I found photography through this, creating something in real life and capturing it through the camera. That led me to Sheridan because I wanted to get drunk with my friends and create something. I then took a year off to experiment with making photography for fun, and then landed at OCAD. I thought highly of myself, thinking OCAD would be easy because I was already a creative. What was asked of me was so much more than commercial photography, and the people were so different than Sheridan...a lot more artsy.
Me: Because they’re art people! Did you feel like you needed to change a part of yourself to fit in?
Kelsey: Yes, art people. I felt so "normal" in settings with artists, but then when I’m with people who aren’t artists I’m like “Fuck. I’m weird.” It’s a strange in-between I walk. I just didn’t fit in with the groups –– I came from a school where I was doing so many commercial projects that had set rules, but at OCAD suddenly it was okay to argue with your professors and be more out there.
Me: Your art mainly focuses around feminism and women in the media –– was this always the case? How did this art style come about?
Kelsey: Being from Barrie, no one spoke to me about feminism. My mom was for sure a feminist, but different from how it is now. OCAD was about figuring out my art, especially my feminist awakening. I was making pretty photos and then was asked “well, what’s the point?” It was overwhelming to be questioned on what I cared about; I’d never had to think about anything other than selling my work.
Through my classes and research, I became inspired by other feminist artists. My work was mostly self-portraits, and I explored myself through them. My professors would tell me I was almost there, and it was so frustrating. I was questioning myself, asking “what does it mean to be a political body as a woman?”
I was so frustrated that the only thing I could think of was noise, so I made a video where fans blew at me. I didn’t know what it meant, but it reminded my classmates of the discomfort and performance that comes from female beauty ads. I started to think of the stupid things women go through in the media, and through that I created the Cover Girl Series. I loved exploring the stupid things I’ve always hated about women in media that look so glamour but are really so uncomfortable –– being wet especially. With this series, I was able to say “Hey, I’m good. This is good.”
Me: And from this creative boost, Whyte Girl was born?
Kelsey: “Whyte Girl K” was born out of a joke and my love of hip hop. When more and more people told me “just to make it, keep going,” it suddenly became my thesis. It felt like I'd found something that resonated with the ridiculous theatre kid version of myself. When I was making Whyte Girl I really focused on making the song non-offensive to anyone (except for children). I wanted to make hip hop that was fun without throwing someone under the rug ––one critique I got was that my lyric “I be cutting your dicks” was aggressive, so I shot a scene where I was cutting penises out of paper in a literal sense. The whole song is just funny.
I had a vision of a really fucked up tea party in a farmhouse, which to me just emphasized how Whyte Girl wasn’t trying to be anything other than what she was –– I’m a white girl who loves hip hop. It was interesting creating it as a white person, because obviously you want to be careful not to appropriate anything. I listened to my peers and took advice from my classmates on how to create the Whyte Girl character, which opened my world up to music and artists I should have been listening to anyways. In the end, the video is white as fuck; my last name is literally Whyte, and I never tried to seem like something I wasn’t.
It was interesting to have positive conversations about my art with black people and negative conversations about it with white people. For the most part, I feel like I did what I could do with Whyte Girl to get my point across. But also, maybe there shouldn’t even be a white girl rapper character. There just needs to be more female rappers in general.
With the rise of more female rappers, Whyte Girl is retired (for now). She’ll come back when she’s needed.
Me: Has being a feminist artist ever been difficult? Was there push back from people?
Kelsey: Well the one professor who mentioned the dick cutting comment was one of them, and I didn’t feel like I needed to change anything but I did anyways. I truly believe that you can hurt men's feelings and not hate men; it was a tongue-in-cheek joke and doesn’t really compare to the amount of harmful comments made about women in rap. Some people definitely took Whyte Girl more seriously then I intended, and the race aspect became a real talking point. But I didn’t feel like the criticism was from anyone I really needed to listen to? It was more that I wanted the opinions from people who actively love the hip hop community, and people who didn’t understand that didn’t affect me.
Me: How did COVID affect you as a creative? You’re a wedding photographer and a lot of that business was lost –– how did you deal with that?
Kelsey: I felt so sad, so defeated. Then a bit of positivity thinking that maybe weddings would still happen. Then defeat again. I was helpless; it wasn’t my fault, it wasn’t my clients fault, it just happened. I still took it personally, in a weird way. There was no point in working on my business –– I was paying myself, so why did it matter? I just wanted to do what I loved, but I did have time to create wedding books for clients and I grew as an artist.
I created a COVID bucket list of things I wanted to accomplish to keep me motivated. I bought a green screen, drew some vulva comics (vaginas take over the world, it’s awesome). I was able to experiment with stuff without feeling like there needed to be output; what I created was just for me. I also did a Black Lives Matter fundraiser where I drew pictures of people when they donated to specific BLM charities. It felt really good to produce something positive in a time where it felt like nothing was positive. It was a bunch of hippy-dippy creating with no end, and now it’s hard to get back into actual wedding work again.
Me: What drove you to keep creating, despite the bad situation?
Kelsey: I create just because I want to, but it’s in between all the other stuff. I literally have all the time, and it’s a lot. Every time I finished a project it was like “what the fuck do I do now?”
Making shit with crayons was actually so therapeutic, and something I’ve never really tried before. It felt nice to be able to share these “meh” pieces with people and hear from other artists that they were cool. I ended up just creating projects for myself, and as soon as I realized this, I could keep moving. Or watch 70 episodes of the Bachelor in a row, it could be either.
Kelsey’s Bachelor Tangent: The Bachelor is also so weird because it’s so serious and doesn’t make fun of itself. They’re all so in love with some random guy, and the Bachelor is a show that hasn’t really been turned into art. The mom’s take it so seriously; the people who watch it (including myself) know everything about it. Everyone lives for the drama and the distraction –– it was good to watch people live life for a while.
(We then talked about Tiger King for like, 15 minutes).
Me: Was there ever a moment where you were like, “I can do this, I’m capable.”
Kelsey: You have moments of that as an artist. You’ll be on top of the world, and then you’re suddenly a piece of garbage. I am generally an average to above average human artist, but winning an award at my OCAD grad for Whyte Girl felt like I was finally doing something right. I created it with my friends and felt so comfortable creating this piece of performance art. When you create something that you’re proud of and it feels like the right people are supporting you, it feels so good. Also when Yoko Ono retweeted a picture of my face on her Twitter.
The moments come in waves, and as much self-doubt and imposter syndrome as I have, I know that I am and will always be an artist.
Me: What do you want people to gain from your art?
Kelsey: I think I create art for women/fem human beings. Thinking about how the media and advertising are now spouting feminist quotes while also selling you something makes me feel weird. I want the moms who want to raise empowered girls to think critically about these companies, why are these companies making these advertisements? Do they back up their claims? Look around you and see what companies you support are doing, and think critically about the behind the scenes of all of these campaigns. Let’s just make sure we know what we’re watching.
Me: What’s your favourite piece?
Kelsey: I think my favourite thing is still to come. I like imagining what I would do if I had a full gallery and all my art was there. Dream big!
Me: Well Kelsey, our time is up (and I’m out of questions). Name drop some artists you like, and we’ll say goodbye!
Kelsey: @natalielauraking
These are all amazing female artists who are funny, creative, and insane. Follow all of them.
Check out Kelsey on her website and on Instagram and love her as much as I do!
My conversation with Kelsey was full of bad jokes and ignoring the Go Train. She’s smart, funny, and effortlessly talented. I am so grateful to have a friend who will take the time to answer my questions and put up with me in general. I hope to interview more of my friends in the future, and I’m so excited to poke into the minds of my other friends.
Coming up next: An Interview with Warren Frank of Heaps!
Comentarios