jilah.kalil@gmail.com

“Nature is so powerful, so strong. Capturing its essence is not easy – your work becomes a dance with light and the weather. It takes you to a place within yourself.” –Annie Leibovitz

Raised in Miami, Florida, and now a resident of Nashville since 1986, Jilah has always been fascinated by light & how it is reflected on surfaces in the landscapes surrounding her: first, experiencing how the light dances on the surface of the water as a child when looking at the Atlantic Ocean in the early morning or late afternoon, and then later, watching the light shift through the trees as an adult in the rolling hills and smoke hazed mountains in Tennessee. Her attraction to capturing light and studying chiaroscuro began first with her painting, and then through photography. She pursued art initially at Boston University, School of Fine Arts, and continued at Savannah College of Art & Design, graduating with a BFA with a major in photography and a minor in painting. Jilah embraces photographic techniques that allow her to find ways to move beyond the traditional photograph, and move more into painting, allowing for a dance of emotion between the light and the artist and the image.