It's a strange time to be an artist, existing in accelerating violence of late-stage capitalism, caught between the despair of climate collapse and the omnipresence of Ai. It seems necessary that we continue to resist and create, to communicate human to human, despite often feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of the situation. So whether that's to draw focus to the beauty of everyday moments or to grapple with bigger, more complex subjects, I see my role as an artist is to explore, interrogate, and communicate the moment in time in which I find myself.

I work across different practices: sculpture, film, photography, drawing, and writing. I'm drawn to the materials and processes that best serve the conceptual dialogues I'm trying to have. I follow the needs of the idea. Each project demands its own language. In an art world increasingly shaped by branding, specialisation, and marketability, I resist the pressure to specialise, Art, for me, is a way of thinking rather than a commodity to buy and sell.

Themes of class and queerness often emerge in my work, not through any conscious agenda, but because they shape how I move through the world. I am interested in the ways identity, place, and power become embedded in everyday experience. London, and the psychogeography of the city, remain a constant source of inspiration. Personal narratives frequently act as a point of departure, but my work is not autobiographical. The self is simply one route into larger conversations.

I find myself in a state of in-betweenness. Between genders. Between London and rural Ireland. Between the opportunities afforded by education and the realities of a working-class upbringing. To occupy these thresholds is to belong everywhere and nowhere at once. It is an uncomfortable position, often marked by contradiction, uncertainty, and self-consciousness. Yet it also offers a particular vantage point: the ability to observe from the edges, to notice what slips through the cracks, and to question what others might take for granted.

At its heart, my practice is an attempt to remain open: to stay attentive to the process of searching, making, and discovering. The world increasingly asks us to be efficient, productive, and certain. Art asks for the opposite. It asks us to remain curious. To experiment. To fail. To wander. It’s that practice that they want to kill in us, because that's where the real magic lies.

BIO

Kai Fiáin lives between London and West cork. He attended Chelsea School of Art and Design, where he graduated with a BA (hons.) first class. Focussing on sculpture, moving image and more recently written work, he weaves stories shaped by the psycho-geographical landscape of London that hold recurring themes of class, queerness and the immigrant experience.

Highlights of his career to date have included exhibiting at the Whitechapel Gallery, the ICA and the Southbank Centre in London and in 2022, he was part of the acclaimed “Rebel Dykes” art and archive exhibition. More recently, he was one of the participating artists in GRÁ, Uillinn Art Gallery’s summer 2025 exhibition, responding to selected works from Crawford’s national collection.

Worldwide screenings at many festivals have brought Kai’s films several awards including Channel 4’s Random Acts Award for Best Short Film at the London Short Film Festival. Written work has been published in GRASS magazine and he currently has a solo exhibition at Uillinn Art Gallery. In his spare time, he is a longstanding programmer for Fringe! Queer Film and Arts Festival.