kailee viator batson - mixed media visual artist

A conjuration of a glimpse at creation, built up from bones,

    — still doused in dirt.

Spores smoking with spirits, transcending past muddy waters of fear,

   an offering of safety from the mind's great storm.

A breath or two finds oneself standing at the edge of life's great cliff.

   Visions reflected by death's black mirror,

   calling forth a recollection of peace; of nothing.

The wine was blessed:

   fermented by friends of nymphs on the edge of an enchanted forest.

The wine was blessed:

   spilling memories of the primordial womb into the mouths of starved spirits.

The wine was blessed:

   poured from crystalline bottles forged in somber birdsong and grapes of wrath.

The birds have since stopped singing, yet drop seeds on tilled dirt.

Harbingers of temporal sadness, of glowing joy

Humanity reduced to towers made of salt,

  taken up by the lonely desert's raging winds.

The birds rest heavy on nests made of splinters

When will new names be given to these faceless gods?

Heaven's light glitters through warm ribbons of pink

An angel runs a finger down the length of a newly developed spine

  tracing each vertebrae for an answer to one question.

A songbird calls an end to curiosity, sounding the warning:

   Show gratitude, kiss the soil with reverence

  For the Earth is our Mother, She so forsaken by Vanity

Erosion turning over miles of arid soot

   revealing red, wet clay

Make way for new blooms, new blossoms

Bountiful vineyards sprouted from decay

The dust shall settle, and babes shall cry

Tiny birds shall sign hymns newly writ

And the hourglass shall turn itself over again.

Flora and Fauna, Kailee Viator’s first ever installation, is going hard. The extensive all immersive encounter with the art will make the participants feel like they are in an “enchanted womb wonderland.” If that seems a little strange, then it’s a sign you haven’t properly interacted with any of Kailee’s work before. “I want it to be an experience, rather than just looking at something on a pedestal or on a wall. I want people to be in the art.” The transformation of the High Street Gallery into a sophisticated wilderness has begun. The forest will be alive and brimming with wonder on October 21st at 7pm.  Most of senses will be engaged - sight, sound, touch, and even smell. When the clock strikes 10pm, the charmed existence will have breathed its last and a hush will fall over the gallery. Sure, you can see the art another day, but it won’t be the same. It will be a ghost of what it was - and you’ll be haunted by the whispers of magic that you had to have seen to believed.

Walking into her work space there are over 30 cartons of eggs, skulls, bones, dead insects, birdcages, a giant beautiful backdrop, and an explosion of pink, ribbons, glitter, and lace. It’s quite a contrast. If you caught Viator’s last show “One is Pink, One is Blue…” then you’ve already gotten a preview into the mind of the artist. “Flora and Fauna” dives deeper into the stereotypical rose colored femininity and exaggeration of gender roles - but the blue shades of masculinity has been eliminated in this show. “I’ve been thinking about feminism and the power that women have. [The installation] is like a softened subtle feminine version of myself. When I was in high school, I painted roadkill and things to be offensive or shock people or prove something. But as I’ve matured, the darkness is still there, I’m just dealing with it in a different way.” When you walk in the gallery, you’ll be transported into a mythical wonderland - but think the Grimm’s Fairytale version, not the diluted Disney princess shit we’re accustomed to.

Looking at her artist statement (which is a visual art in itself in lieu of words typed up in black and white) there is mention of Diana, the goddess of hunting, the moon, and women.
“In Roman mythology, Diana was bathing in the forest, and Actaeon saw her. She turned him into a deer and he was devoured by his own hunting dogs.”
The message is clear - femininity isn’t weakness. Traditionally, men are the inheritors of power, control, and autonomy over themselves. If a woman has a strong sense of anything other than a taste for all things sweet and delicate and decorative, then she’s overstepping her bounds. And she’s probably a bitch. “Gender roles are weird,” Kailee says.
Diana took back control of her body, in a fierce and gruesome way, a deathly fuck you to a careless Royal who wanted to objectify her.

Upon learning about the legend that propelled the installation in the direction it has taken, I begin to see the layer of gloom that hides under the blush colored veneer, giving a terrible depth to the gilded forest.

“It’s like…a pretty nightmare,” Kailee muses. This particular nightmare has been taking form in her mind for years. In Kailee’s past work the themes of life, death, and rebirth in various explorations has been key themes since ye olde high school days. “I’ve always been fascinated by religion and spirituality,” she says, pulling out a work that has hints of both a mythic paganism and Christianity mythos with other belief systems sprinkled in. In the larger scheme of things, every person who has ever existed and will ever exist questions the point of their life and finds distractions to avoid the thought that one seemingly basic day they will cease to exist, never mind what happens afterward. Living in the Bible belt, even Christian beliefs vary dramatically; from Catholicism to fundamental views to charismatic interpretations - add to that a growing collection of knowledge about Buddhism and pagan mythologies, and what is left is a peculiar way of perceiving these concepts. “I have a deep respect for different believe systems and think it’s very interesting that everyone has a different story for why the world is here. Everyone is trying to find a reason for things and why we are here, even scientists.” To illustrate this point, Kailee shows me a birdcage that has a representation of a live bird and a dead one. “We’re born, we live, we die and then question mark. Everyone wonders about that, I mean, how can you not?” There is a sketch of an hourglass on a discarded piece of paper on the desk that I’ve been glancing at the whole interview. It will just be a matter of time before it is brushed to the floor and swept up and thrown away in one of the giant garbage bins.

“Everything is temporary,” she says. The body will decay, art will crumble, and who will remember any of it? “I make work about temporal aspect of life because like anyone else, I have a hard time accepting it. I’m always trying to plan stuff, you know get from point A to point B. But like everyone else, I have a hard time accepting what’s now, because if I don’t I won’t be enjoying my life very much.” Ironically, it comes back to control or the lack thereof - sometimes we have no control about what happens to us. A hurricane, death, being turned into a stag for checking out the wrong girl, could devastate your life. “Think about a forest fire. It’s a fire, it burns everything down [and causes destruction], but from the ashes, new trees grow.”

This only scratches the surface. There are smaller personal themes intertwined with the sweeping metaphors of impermanence. Ultimately though, it’s up to the viewer to draw their own conclusions and connections. “When I make art, the conception stage is the most personal. By the time I’m creating it, it’s the big picture, the grand scheme, the overall message that I want others to take away from my work is what fuels it.” When I get up to leave, I look at the little sketch again, but it’s upside down and it reminds me firstly of a Death Cab for Cutie song, and secondly about perspective. There’s a hidden phrase in the show that I want you to look for - find it and you’ll understand what I mean. I’m starting to think that despite identifying with a particular religion, that Kailee does have a faith - in self, in art, and the necessary chaos of life. And, maybe, you’ll be a believer too.