When the pandemic hit in 2020, the world quickly transitioned from 'normal' to the unfamiliar: new rules, new information and new ways to live our lives. In the process, we have experienced our relationships with the people we live with become more concentrated, in good and difficult ways. We have become much more important, and complicated, to one another. But what is the line between closeness and claustrophobia? Between deepening relationships and scraping against the shallowness that was hidden? Through this series of large oil paintings, Kelly tries to capture the paradoxical reality of when things feel 'too close for comfort' and playfully create images that toe the line between support and dependency.
Nora Kelly (she/her) is an oil painter and muralist based in Montreal, QC. She spent the year of 2017-2018 in Mexico City apprenticing with the muraling company Street Art Chilango and has since painted murals for businesses and private residences across North America, always with a desire to keep her services affordable and accessible to all. More recently, she has turned to editorial illustration and has been working for The Writer's Union of Canada, The Tyee, Capital Daily, PRISM, Vallum magazine and others. She lives with a dog named Squid and plays in a country band.
