About

“Kavel is an artist I have admired for many years,' says Chambers. 'Her use of colour to form bold and modern shapes is very dynamic, full of energy.” Lucinda Chambers - fashion director, designer and stylist. - Wallpaper Magazine

“Kavel’s work is a magical balancing act that manages to be aesthetically pleasing whilst also disrupting the status quo – this is what makes it so important and special.” Cathy Lomax - Transition Gallery, Arty Zine and Garageland Magazine. 

“What I admire most is the way her work invites a second look. Images are cropped, obscured or reassembled so that new meanings emerge from what remains. There is a careful balance between spontaneity and control, nostalgia and wit, which gives the work its particular charm and intelligence.” Louise Fitzjohn - Liminal Gallery 

 “Kavel reconstitutes past histories of the ‘found’ or discovered, by way of contemporary additions of colour and form. Like taking you by the hand, into the present with new twists for possibilities. This changes the work’s meaning in an unexpected way, like two ends of the spectrum that strangely complement each other, the former with the new.” Vincent Hawkins - Painter and mentor Turps Banana, Margate. 

“We love Kavel's use of vernacular materials such as vintage postcards and magazine cuttings – she gives these forgotten relics a contemporary twist with clever ideas and unexpected use of colour. Kavel can turn an old junk shop painting into a thing of beauty.” Lorraine and Stephen Sorrell (FUEL publishing)

Artist Statement

I am a self-taught, multidisciplinary artist working across collage, painting and assemblage. My practice explores the possibilities of found and appropriated materials, from old magazines, postcards and gardening publications to cookery books and vintage photographs. I am drawn to the value, beauty and patina of discarded things, working with them as a frugal and relevant response to mass production and waste.

My work is subtly subversive, using abstraction, redaction, editing and censorship to create new narratives from existing images and text. I explore ideas of women, connection, sapphism, form and the Japanese concept of MA—the interplay of negative and positive space. Visual tricks and unexpected juxtapositions invite the viewer to look again.

Collecting is central to my practice and research. I examine, alter and reorganise what I find, embracing happy accidents, mistakes and spontaneity. I am interested in palimpsests, layers, what is hidden and what remains once an image is cut, obscured or transformed.

Recurring biomorphic forms, particularly flowers and animals, allow me to play with anthropomorphism and create new, often ambiguous narratives. Ultimately, my practice is about creating order from chaos: subtracting by adding, adding to subtract, and finding something unexpected in what has been left behind.

Biography

I was raised by hippy parents. My dad named me Kavel; more than likely he picked the name up whilst travelling in India. Kavel is actually a Hindi boy’s name meaning lotus flower, which is lovely – I later found out it also means rolling pin in Swedish! We moved and travelled a lot as a family and I'm sure this lifestyle has encouraged my love of adventure. I have lived all over; a couple of years in Sweden and almost a decade in Barcelona. I feel I have (finally?) settled, in the vibrant sea-side town of Margate.

I came out as a lesbian quite late in life, at the age of 42. This has been so liberating for me; it has definitely been a catalyst for stronger and more confident work. I’m happy and comfortable in myself now, as an out queer woman.

I have always loved flea markets. They are very indicative of a place, whether that be Barcelona’s Encants, Los Angeles’ Melrose Trading post or the Flohmarkt in Berlin. From Mexico City to a car boot fair in Herne Bay, what people sell and throw away is very telling.

You used to be able to find me in Northern Soul clubs most weekends, but these days I’m more likely to be seen walking my sausage dog Bobby Dazzler on Margate Beach.

Exhibitions And Awards

Awards

2023
DYCP Arts Council England Grant

Solo Exhibitions

2025
Lean Into Joy, Post Office Margate, Margate
2023
At Home with Kavel Rafferty, House of Mabel, Margate
Grey Gardens, Pride Art Map / Stretch Outsider Art, Margate
The Florist, Projects_KavelRafferty, Thanet Gas Spares, Margate
2021
Queer Flower, White Conduit Projects, London
2018
Unbroken, Liddicoat & Goldhill Project Space, Margate

Selected Group Exhibitions

2025
Islomania, Post Office Margate, Margate — curated by Kavel Rafferty & Cathy Lomax
Best in Show, Jealous Gallery, London
POST//FUTURE, Delphian Gallery

2024
Out of Fashion III, GALLERY46, London
New Relief, Post Office Margate, Margate
Duly Noted, with Lou Melchior, Post Office Margate, Margate
Stop and Smell the Flowers, Post Office Margate, Margate

2023
Small and Mighty, Ladies Drawing Club / Louise Fitzjohn, online
Queeriosities, Museum of the Home, London
The Art Shop, curated by Lucinda Chambers, 8 Holland Street, London

2022
Bunch, Hotel Michele, Margate — co-curated with Louise Fitzjohn
Les Painters, Hotel Michele, Margate — curated by Kavel Rafferty
Eternally Yours, Somerset House, London
Cats in Crisis, Hotel Michele, Margate

2021
Pacific Breeze II, White Conduit Projects, London
Turner Open, Turner Contemporary, Margate

2020
Flowers of Romance III, White Conduit Projects, London
Captura Temporal, Casa Lu Gallery, Mexico City
Love Margate, Art Car Boot, Margate

2018
Pacific Breeze I, White Conduit Projects, London