
Photo by Mariana Pires
Kione Grandison (b. 1996, London) is a London-based artist working primarily in painting and mixed media collage. Her practice explores themes of identity, belonging, and diasporic memory, drawing inspiration from African and Caribbean hairstyling practices, as well as Jamaican sound system and street culture.
Hair is a central subject within her practice. Used as a tool to examine how colonial legacies, and Eurocentric beauty standards have affected the way that black people view themselves and their hair. What began as a personal inquiry into her own relationship with her hair has evolved into a broader examination of hair as a site of empowerment, resistance, and cultural storytelling.
Time spent in Jamaica, her ancestral homeland, also continues to shape the work. Her multidisciplinary approach includes large-scale public works, flyer design, and wearable art through hand-painted clothing. Grandison has worked on commissions for various clients including:
A24 films | Channel 4 | Netflix | Adidas | Nicholas Daley | Mixpak records
The Elder Statesman | Geejam Hotel, Jamaica | The National Film Board of Canada
As a graduate of Wimbledon College of Arts with a First-Class BA in Fine Art Painting, Grandison was a recipient of the 2017 Woon Foundation Art Prize.
Alongside her visual art practice, she works as a freelance nail artist. Grandison sees nail art as an outlet which closely aligns with her art practise. Similarly to hair styling, nail art is a popular form of adornment within diasporic African and Caribbean communities.
PRESS
The National Portrait Gallery Portrait of a Top Boy
Vogue, Nicholas Daley SS23 Calypso collection
Nataal magazine collaged editorial
Vogue, The Elder Statesman Fall 22 collection
All the Pretty Birds Interview
CV
EDUCATION
1st Class honours, BA Fine Art: Painting
Wimbledon College of Art - UAL
2014 - 2017
EXHIBITIONS
September 2023 - 'Portrait Of A Top Boy'- Group show
Somerset House Embankment Galleries, London
October Nov 2022 - solo showcase
Migration Museum, London
Sept 2019- ‘AKRA’- Collaborative show
Htown Studio, London
Aug 2019- ‘The Hair Appointment’- Group show
Peckham Palms, London
Feb 2019- ‘CWDT’- Group show
Five Miles, Tottenham, London
June 2017- ‘The Woon prize’- Group show
Baltic 39, Newcastle Upon Tyne
June 2017- Wimbledon BA degree show- Group show
Wimbledon College of Arts, London
March 2017- ‘108 Nails’- Group show
Copeland Gallery, Peckham, London
PRIZES
Woon Foundation Painting and Sculpture prize- 3rd place prize
2017
COLLECTIONS
Work in ownership of several private collections including the UAL collection