Kaley Smalley Romo was born in Seattle, WA and frequently credits the city for her passion for moody, atmospheric storytelling. The child of two parents who worked in fashion, and a mother with a deep love of art history, Kaley’s formative years were filled with a push to find self-expression through all creative forms. While formally trained in music, the visual arts took a passionate hold once Kaley moved to Los Angeles, where she’s made her mark as a producer in TV and Film.

A desire for a more tactile form of expression came with the appearance of covid, and after the birth of her first child, when Kaley returned to her foundational knowledge of design and began a deep exploration of her new identity in the midst of motherhood and uncertain times.

Kaley’s art is rooted in textured, figurative forms and aims to capture the complex layers of identity through portraits that feel multi-dimensional. Themes of anxiety, fear, disillusionment and transformative hope headline most of her work, in which she invites the viewer to question their own complex ideas of “self”.

Kaley tackles the notion of “shadow work” through a primal, aggressive lens. Specifically, the varying stages in confronting and negotiating with the darker elements of one’s personality to eventually settle into a transformed, merged state. Kaley’s portraits serve as reflections of the sometimes frightening, but beautiful, process of self-acceptance.