Shaqe Kalaj

Livonia, Michigan

Shaqe Kalaj is a painter, mixed-media artist, and the visual arts coordinator for VSA arts of Michigan. Kalaj shows her work regularly in galleries in Michigan, New York, Chicago, Toronto, San Francisco, and Japan. According to the artist, her work references issues such as eating disorders, child abuse, the farm industry, religion, mental illness, and racial stereotypes. “As an artist with a disability, I have used my disability as the force behind my work,” Kalaj says. “I have learned the terrain of my illness and use it through my art to explore deep and gripping issues.”