LALA DRONA
Lala Drona is a French-American painter and video artist, born in Denver, Colorado. She is currently pursuing an MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art. Lala Drona publishes and exhibits her work internationally, with her most recent exhibitions presenting videos and paintings that explore digital spaces and the female gaze at the Cité des Arts de Paris. Her body of work—including painting in the expanded field, videos, and writing—delves into themes of the abject feminine, womxn's medical experience, and the void of the digital world. Her art exists within a fictional universe and mythology that she establishes online, then recontextualizes in the physical world through painting, performance, and sculpture. Drona's work challenges viewers to consider the impact of institutional structures on individual identity.
Artist statement
As a painter with a cosmetic disability resulting in the non-development of one breast, I use the canvas as a metaphor for my bodily experiences and surgeries. I employ non-conventional surfaces—medical gowns, gauze, cameras, and screens—to explore the marginalisation of the abject feminine medical body, delving into themes of beauty, visibility, and absence. Defying beauty norms characterised as ‘smooth,’ I apply textured paint on anti-smooth surfaces to evoke a sublime and provocative experience of beauty. Influenced by Julia Kristeva’s theory of the abject, I utilise fragmentation and concealment to make challenging imagery accessible, catalysing transformative encounters between self and Other in those who witness the work.
