Jada McAliley is a visual artist based in Baltimore Maryland. Jada is currently attending the Maryland Institute College of Art, pursuing a BFA in painting. Using portraiture, her practice expresses intimate moments with family and self. McAliley’s paintings delve into black family traditions, lineage, and family history. Her most recent series immerses the viewer in the experience of the annual family reunion. She experiments with spray paint, translucency, texture, and layering to capture the essence and personalities of various family members. In addition, Jada’s self portrait works capture moments of new found self-recognition and agency discovered through transitioning into adulthood and loss of naivety. She chooses to make works relating to family because she is heavily influenced by the matriarchal members of her family. Furthermore, her family emphasizes the need to stay in touch and learn their history so she chooses to honor her lineage through documenting them in a tangible manner. Artworks will often situate black women, including McAliley, as independent and in possession of their own experiences of leisure, joy, and ease as a method to empower them. Each composition invites the viewer into the scene leaving them feeling included in the family. Jada’s works have been exhibited at institutions and galleries including the New York Academy of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Reginald F Lewis Museum, and the YoungArts Gallery. She has won various awards including YoungArts Winner with distinction in Visual Arts, Gold Medal Portfolio in the Scholastics Art and Writing competition, Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation grant, NAACP ACT-SO Gold Medalist in Painting, and AXA Art prize finalist. McAliley has received publicity from Baltimore Beat, Scholastics Art and Writing, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Create! Magazine, and YoungArts.