About Caressa
Caressa Layne is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and curator. She received her BA in Studio Arts from Ball State University (IN) in 2020. She has since continued to hone her visual art, begin a writing and poetry practice, and has curated over 20 group and solo exhibitions of international artists.
Her work explores themes of a cyclical nature—often attempting to nudge the gap between human experience and the natural world. She celebrates the disturbing alongside the delightful and pursues concepts that bridge the divide between elevated thought and animal impulse.
Caressa currently serves as Art Gallery Director for Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, as well as Art Editor for Rawhead Journal. She has curated and co-curated 20+ exhibitions. Caressa’s poetry and prose have been published in Art of Nothing Press, The Science Fiction Poetry Association, Plentitudes, and The Dark Poets. She was awarded third place in the 2025 Plentitudes Prizes for Flash Fiction.
“My written and visual work are a celebration of the stitches that barely separate disgust and delight. Inspired by phenomenology and existential philosophy, through my work, I explore the fascination for existence which grips me by the throat. In a world as awe-inspiring as it is repulsive, why would I ignore one part of nature in favor of the other?
Even as my perspective oscillates between adoration and disgust, my processes explore my devotion to the whole. From the effervescent quality of laughter and tenderness, and to sweat and blood; all of these things are woven together in our imperfect, irresistible existence.”
-Caressa
Curriculum vitae
Join the list
Join Caressa’s community
[receive updates and opportunities to your inbox]