Art, Identity, and Changing Perspectives: A Conversation with a Kenyan Artist
Sheila Bayley’s art is more than just visual expression—it’s a deeply personal exploration of identity, belonging, and healing. Raised in a large family in Nairobi, as the youngest with a big age gap, Bayley always felt there were elements of herself that didn’t fit with the family. This search for identity sparked a profound artistic journey.
Bayley is a self-taught artist. After completing a degree in psychology, Bayley questioned her career choice and returned to what was most natural for her growing up: creating artworks. As an introvert, she always preferred losing herself in the process of making and to express herself in visual form.
No Return Ticket, 2023
For Bayley, painting became a therapeutic medium to process complex emotions and unanswered questions about her origins, and about identity in general through changing times. Her distinctive style—characterized by intricate black linework and vibrant colors—reflects her internal landscape of fragmentation and connection. Experimenting with patterns and colors allows Bayley to create stories, where words and explanations are truly unnecessary. “I use art to tell stories I couldn’t explain in words,” she says.
The Journey Within, 2025
Bayley’s imagery contains much visual information, communicated via a bright palette, crowded with silhouette figures and multiple patterns. The work deliberately challenges viewers, presenting canvases filled with seemingly chaotic elements that ultimately form cohesive narratives. The recurring architectural patterns and puzzle-like compositions can be seen to symbolize Bayley’s own process of piecing together her identity and understanding of her past.
Due to her training in psychology, Bayley is deeply interested the balance between nature and nurture, and how it determines human social behaviour. Her paintings become a space where she explores these paradigms, where personal history, emotional complexity, and creative expression intersect. Each piece represents a fragment of her story—sometimes painful, often hopeful—inviting viewers to find their own meaning, with multiple narratives occurring within a single canvas.
Green Tea, 2023
Bayley also hopes to provoke something in viewers of her art, creating space for emotional vulnerability and taking them on a journey to a place of no return. “I’d rather people feel something, even if it’s discomfort, than feel nothing at all,” she says.
Through her art, Bayley transforms personal uncertainty into a powerful language of human experience. She offers a nuanced view of contemporary Kenyan society, highlighting the ongoing transformation of artistic and personal identities in a rapidly changing world.