Kalisha is a multidisciplinary artist and archivist from London, who gained her foundation diploma from UAL Camberwell College of Arts in 2019, BA in Fine Art with Contemporary Cultural Theory from the University of Leeds in 2023 and MA in Archives and Records Management from UCL in 2024. Kalisha takes the honouring and retelling of contested or forgotten histories as the main emphasis of her practice.
Kalisha's family history is her starting point to explore wider histories of migration, colonialism, and intangible cultural heritage. Duality is central, the subjects which she tackles often exist within a dual or in-between space, trapped between two different veins of knowledge. Using family archives, interviews, video, text and printmaking to explore this. Focusing on the domestic space, Kalisha uses elements of domesticity to speak to wider issues of migration, family, femininity, loss, and the personal impacts of colonialism.
Kalisha's work has been shown in group shows including, Mindjeres di Mundo, East Street Arts, 2023, AoCA Diaspora and Belonging Exhibition, Mother London, 2023 and AoCA Talent on Screen, Wellcome Collection, 2023. Kalisha's final piece for Can You Let Us In? 2023 BA Fine Art Degree Show at the University of Leeds was nominated for the FUAM Graduate Art Prize 2023. She was also interviewed for the a-n degree show guide 2023.
Since graduating Kalisha is pursuing a freelance career working with other artists to build and maintain their archives, helping the management of physical and digital collections. Alongside this she is working as a freelance artist, leading creative and educational workshops in Leeds and London, including working as an artist in residence with Leeds Art Gallery and a workshop facilitator with South London Gallery.