Serena Kobayashi-LeBel

Serena Kobayashi-LeBel is a queer Toronto-based portrait artist who completed her BFA with Honours at York University. Throughout her undergrad, Kobayashi-LeBel participated in several group exhibitions and was awarded the Willowdale Art Award, culminating in her first solo exhibition Human;Nature. Inspired by the dynamic relationships she sees among her peers as they navigate the politics of health, identity and social expectation, her style captures a delicate blend of vulnerability and ferality; the viewer is struck by the blossoming imagery, only to confront the grotesque reality of nature. The core of her work centres on representing and exploring these complex emotional struggles.