Jayda Knight is a visual artist who received her BFA & BArch from Rhode Island School of Design.
From childhood, Knight was intrigued by decorative arts for their use as a form for artistic expression and as a means for contextual story-telling and social communication in public & private settings. Through her practice, Knight explores ornament both as a metaphor as well as a visual to create narratives inspired by contemporary topics. Knight draws from quotidien, societal, sexual and personal subject matter to create a descriptive, surreal story-telling delivered using symbolic motifs. An underlying correlative darker sub-text inherently lingers-this psychology in her work is often only accessible to the careful viewer, but playfully veiled behind a Decorative ornamental approach. The intentional contrast between the surface and the deep are part of what makes her work both accessible and challenging. This combined narrative in her work juxtaposed with a nostalgic flair, is often described as a visual form of the Historic-present.
Knight has collaborated with several institutions including the Miami City Ballet, Oolite Arts, Lincoln Road Improvement District and Timeout; she is a grant recipient from Gottlieb Foundation-NY, Artists’ Fellowship-NY and the Miami-Dade Department of Cultural Affairs.