k salem

Sometime during covid, K. Salem and her partner found an abandoned landfill deep in a forest preserve in the western Chicago suburbs. The act of sorting through dirt and bottles became almost therapeutic, while painting and collaging has been a long time escape for the artist. The pieces were shared and displayed in an oddity and curio shop in Denver called The Learned Lemur, where K.Salem found her place in a community of other artists of the area. While living out west, she loved to travel on BLM land where finding old cans and bottles was common. Aside from using old bottles as canvases, K. Salem often works with discarded old books, wood and rusty metal.