YA

La'ford

 

Ya Levy La'ford,  is a Jamaican-American Artist.,

and the granddaughter of renowned artist John Dunkley, one of Jamaica’s first and finest intuitive painters. ​

​

She is an interdisciplinary visual artist, painter, installation artist, muralist, and social practice artist, as well as a professor who exhibits her work nationally and internationally.

 

She has a  BA  from  Florida State University, a Juris Doctor from the  University of Florida, and a Masters in Fine Arts from the Arts Institute of Boston. Lives and work between Florida, Maine, Canada, & Jamaica

 

Through painting, sculpture, and community arts practices, she creates a safe space for dialogue around some of the most profound issues communities and individuals may face.

 

Her work tells stories using large-scale paintings, layered with richly textured paint and embedded with thick, painterly geometric lines interconnecting through space and color. Her work reflects her cultural hybridity. As a first-generation 

 

 Ya's work has been exhibited at Tampa Museum of Art,  Art Basel, Miami,  Dr. Carter Woodson African American Museum, Orlando Museum of Fine Art, The Ringling Museum, Venice Art Projects,  Egypt,  Columbia,  Spain, Thailand, and Cuba.