Check Out Cambria Kelley’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cambria Kelley.

Hi Cambria, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I come from a big but unusual family. I am part of a set of quadruplets, three girls and one boy. Growing up, my mom and dad opened our minds to the world around us and it led to us being an artistically inclined family. I attended a school where going to museums around the USC area was the norm and incorporated into the learning curriculum. Through this form of privilege, I had regular access to these spaces and it inspired me to pursue the arts and let alone storytelling. From writing and illustrating stories and then into drawing/painting, to even playing the trumpet for a few years, I always had my hands on something. The arts was an escape from reality and helped me cope through the rough transitions in my life.

Sometime in high school, I decided that I enjoyed writing as a career and I applied and attended the University of California, Riverside to pursue Creative Writing. Though I had the anxieties of a first gen college student along with being separated from my siblings, my artistic journey blossomed. Sharing my poetry in these classes was a big step because it was always something personal to me, but I learned how to tune my craft and knowing that people enjoyed my writing made me feel proud to be a writer. I did the Poetry emphasis but also had the opportunity to take a graphic novel class along with an Afrofuturism class. I got to act in several short plays and be behind the scenes through the Latinx Play project. Working part-time at UCR Arts, the university’s museum reconnected my love for museums. Despite the struggles of being a young Black woman in a place historically not meant for me, I persevered and met many wonderful people in different areas of the arts and that inspired me to become a multi media artist. From there, I decided that I wanted to continue my education and applied to the NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Studies. When I graduated from UCR, it was during the Covid-19 pandemic and moved across the country to start graduate school. NYU and graduate school in of itself was like a new world for me. It was a rough transition but I was able to successfully complete my first year and I am ready for my final year. I realized then and there that it was okay to be non-traditional in academia and non-traditional in other aspects in my life.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely has been one bumpy road. I had trouble navigating these new spaces that my siblings or parents really didn’t understand. I was consistently critical of my craft and doubted my abilities because I felt I didn’t have the “experience” many people traditionally had. I struggled with breaking into the museum field and contemplated giving up. It felt very isolating dealing with all of this and then applying to grad school all on my own. What kept me going was the support of my friends, family, and teachers who saw potential and believed in me. When the pandemic hit, I lost my job at the museum and was finishing my last quarter at UCR on Zoom. I didn’t have a graduation and I was upset because I was first in my family to graduate but the pandemic made everything feel gloomy. The virus also impacted my family in multiple ways. For example, my grandmother unexpectedly passed away from Covid a month before moving to NYC. I felt the need to keep my composure together while coping with several transitions of leaving UCR and California and starting anew at NYU and NYC on top of the grief. I moved to NYC alone and was out there with no immediate family. I really did struggle for the ten months I was there in New York. Due to depression and anxiety, I almost wanted to drop out of my grad program a month in. What kept me going was that I wanted this for a long time to be in NYC and along with counseling and the support of people in my program and back home, I continued on. I am glad I made it through but it was one of my darkest times. I’d like to think it made me stronger.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I self-identify as a multimedia artist, poet, storyteller and “curator-in-training”. My work usually revolves around memory, nature, temporality, etc. In Riverside, I was known for my poetry by performing my pieces through the Verbal Coliseum. I had the opportunity last summer to become a guest poet on nature poetry for an online poetry camp through the Inlandia Institute. I have had my paintings displayed at an event called Poesia Peligorsa through an event by Teatro Quinto Sol (TQS).

In my professional life, I was also known for being a Museum Educator and a Visitor Services Assistant at UCR Arts. During my time there, I also was able to become an intern and started the foundation for their very first digital archive, known as the Institutional Memory Archive. Right when the pandemic started, I was experimenting with video and sound art and was able to display my first video piece in an online group exhibition this year called “Art in the Plague Year”. When I moved to New York, I started getting serious about being a museum professional and joined this collective called the “Curator’s Pick” on Instagram, which is for young museum professionals of color. I joined as a contributing member and curated a set of 5 pieces for their ” Art History in…” section. I feel like what sets me apart from others is that I am in several fields at once and they are all intertwined some way or another, even if I don’t see it immediately. I like that I have solid experience in the writing field, which has aided me in my craft, my work, etc. I feel most proud of being able to call myself an artist and to be proud that my work is recognized and in an exhibition, which in turn validates me and my craft. I worked very hard to get to where I am at and I have so much more to do.

Now that I am in graduate school, I am focusing my shift on heritage, the museum visitor experience, and memory.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/camburguesa_/
• Other: https://www.artintheplagueyear.com/Cambria-Kelley

Image Credits:
taken by Adrian Dizon (friend of mines)