Extended Play with InkyLayla
Inkylayla is an artist based in London. She draws people from life and wants to capture their essence and interests. She uses ink and watercolour, savouring the happy accidents and fluidity of these mediums.
Drawing shibari, a personal interest for many years, is a way to explore the contortions and tension on the body, and the power dynamics between rigger and model. She started a drawing series called #wedliketodrawyou with fellow artist Rainer Stolle (@codeture) in 2016, where their interest in fetish and fashion could be explored. They would hand ‘golden tickets’ to people on the streets or invite via Instagram.
This project has morphed into Unspeakable Drawing, a public life drawing class focusing on the weird and wonderful, and lots of latex. In 2018 she began the ‘Dinner and Drawing’ project, inviting strangers to her home to be drawn in exchange for dinner. The resulting work was due to be exhibited in 2020 but due to the pandemic went online.
You can’t have the art without music, so to celebrate showing her work at Harness & Mane, Layla will perform a few numbers with friends.