Kyndacee Harris is busy painting, otherwise I’d ask her to run for office. She had me at first glance—a painting of her own elementary school drill team—and again when I looked her up and found this quote: “To see more of my work, send me money to buy a computer.”
Kristin Farr: What’s happening in your studio?
Kyndacee Harris: I’m working on bigger pieces! That’s something I’ve struggled with and have declared is just not for me. But what I’m actually struggling with is control and letting go, so now I’m pushing myself to lean into it. I’m working on this piece called Sitting on Top of the World—a Brandy reference, naturally! I’m referencing this photo of my sister and her best friend in a parking lot posing on the hood of a car.
There are always these everyday scenes that are so cool to me, and with this particular piece, I’m understanding that scale only enhances that feeling and makes it epic. It goes from a small snapshot to a bigger moment.
Bigger feels better because it’s immersive. Besides your self-portraits, family and friends, who are your subjects?
Mostly black women and black girls. I’m so enamored with girlhood. I still feel like a little girl myself most of the time. So when I’m painting girls, I lean toward my sentimental side heavy. When I’m painting women, that’s when I’m trying to tap into my more assertive side. So those subjects are represented in a way that embodies a coolness or confidence that’s born out of self-actualization. And then sometimes I combine the two, like with my How I Sleep at Night Knowing pieces. Makes me think of this Audre Lorde quote about how every story she creates, creates her. And how she’s ultimately writing to create herself.
Why are you compelled to honor your subjects through painting? The Sandra Cisneros quote on your website feels like a good introduction to your approach.
It’s important because my subjects are so familiar, and these small moments go by so quickly, that painting helps to slow people down and make them really look. It’s interesting you mentioned that quote because when I built my website, it was for my writing. I was referencing my books and my style, “A book that can be opened at any page and will still make sense to the reader who doesn’t know what came before or comes after.” But now I know that how you do some things is how you do everything. And I paint exactly how I write. Short and sweet.
With painting, my words can’t get in the way, which makes it that much sweeter. And I love that the quote still stands—“She thinks people who are busy working for a living deserve beautiful little stories, because they don’t have much time and are often tired.” Also, shout-out to The House on Mango Street. A short and sweet masterpiece!
What draws you to a scene or person that makes you want to paint them?
If it’s a scene, it usually evokes some type of sentimental feeling associated with coming of age. If it’s a person, I’m usually drawn to their personal style. To me, that’s quick and easy storytelling. I like to have those people sit for me, versus working from a reference, because then the story feels even more visceral.
Tell me about your painting of cheerleaders.
It’s based on a photo of me in elementary school when I was on the drill team. It’s me and three other co-captains, and it makes me laugh at how early I was striving to be good at something. Drill team is about discipline, precision and uniformity. I laugh because, at eight years old, I was like, “This is what I wanna do, Mom!” Such a Virgo. I titled it Haven’t Given Up Yet, because thirty years later, I’m still that little eight-year-old striving to be good.
I love how our arms are raised in this triumphant pose and the colors are so iconic to me. I began to characterize them as my “Fly girls”—when I turn them to the side, they look like they’re flying through the air—and I find myself drawing them over and over again on everything.
What parts of the figure do you focus on most?
I love painting hands. Did I say I was good at painting hands? No. But it just seems to me the way that hands sit or gesture communicate so much about a person. I also love faces. I’m amazed at how much essence is communicated when I paint someone’s face. It feels like alchemy.
Can you trace how your style developed?
The only thing I can trace it back to is being surrounded by Black art in my parents’ frame shops and in my childhood home. The first paintings I ever made, I took prints from my mom’s shop and copied them. Artists like Annie Lee and Ernie Barnes are forever imprinted on my brain. Their styles are so expressive, and there’s so much movement and emotion, it’s palpable. They made it their business to create images that show black people the way we are and the way we want to be. Even the painters I gravitate toward as an adult, like Kerry James Marshall, carry that same DNA.
How does your local landscape influence your paintings?
Most of my references are of pictures I took growing up, so it’s been interesting residing in the same city where I grew up. I ride around Inglewood and see everything with new, adult eyes. I even drove around my elementary school the other day. I think it makes me even more sentimental than some moments call for. I’m not concerned with the truth or facts of how I felt at certain times and places—the paintings are not autobiographical. I’m more into these idealized portraits I get to create.
Are there distinct moments from growing up around art that stuck with you?
Growing up with parents who make things, run their own shops and go to markets to sell, I never romanticized being an artist. I watched my mom get up every single day and go into that garage with no one telling her to do so and work herself to the bone. What came out of it was beautiful, but I never thought for one second that it came without putting in the work. Working is ultimately the thing I believe I’m really good at.
What kinds of things did you make as a kid?
I made up dances with my friends. Constantly. I can still remember some of them. Also, my brother and I would make up songs. I vividly remember getting our first home computer and learning how to record ourselves. And we went in. Hours and hours of just creating songs. The first drawings I ever made were of Bugs Bunny, who is still one of my favorite characters of all time.
I like when he dresses in drag. What are your favorite types of outfits to paint?
When I paint other women, I love when the outfit is edgy and sexy, like TLC or Aaliyah. It’s something I shy away from. I feel like I have the potential to be sexy, but expressing that feeling through clothing is difficult. And I think it’s the same reason why painting big is difficult. I’m too in my head about it. I’m trying to control the way people view me, versus how I actually want to express myself. Painting is really just a way for me to get over all my shit and get in my body.
When I’m painting myself, I love getting my personal uniform down. Anything striped, a polo rugby, a plain blue button down, the crewneck I always paint in, Levi’s blue jeans, tennis skirts… Me in cowboy hats are some of my absolute favorite portraits. My art book, Diary of a Rad Black Woman, is just paintings of me in some of my favorite outfits.
What’s your dream fantasy outfit?
Formal wear is something I often fantasize about. I’ve mastered my casual style but I don’t know who I am if I had to be on a red carpet. I’m definitely one of those people who watch the Met Gala and think they could do a better job at interpreting the theme. So I would say my dream outfit is formal and theme-based. And maybe I’m being dressed by Thom Browne.
Yes! Tell me about your books. The titles make me want to read them.
I’m starting to think I just love a good title more than anything. Those books are short, anecdotal stories I wrote, combined and printed. The first one, Is It Going to Be Boys There? is my baby, and making it was the first time I saw myself as a creative person, even though I’ve been one my whole life. I love that they will be a part of my oeuvre one day.
Are there any movies that you consider formative?
I’m such a movie person. I would say the top three are Crooklyn, The Wood, and Lady Bird. All coming of age films—my favorite genre. But also those films position the location as a main character. A sort of love letter to their hometowns.
Issa Rae and her work, Awkward Black Girl and Insecure, created a huge shift in my mindset around seeing my stories as interesting and worthwhile.
Queen Latifah’s character in “Living Single” is probably the only fictional character I identify with completely which helped me accept my full self. She’s a creative. She plays basketball and dresses like a tomboy but the men adore her. She could be serious, silly and sexy! I am her. She is me.
I don’t know how this affected me, but I remember when Kobe took Brandy to prom, my brain exploded. It’s my favorite fairytale. I painted a piece where they were posing in front of my house before leaving for prom. I’m really obsessed.
Check out Kyndacee’s YouTube series, Art Sh!t. This interview was originally published in our WINTER 2025 Quarterly
