By Kimberly Bailey
Serial killers are civilizations dirty secrets, the skeletons in societies closet. Although we may try to keep them well hid, year after year more appear-hacking and slashing away at the doors we try to hide them behind. They are our sons, daughters, husbands, coworkers, classmates and even our friends. They are what happens to ourselves in the worst case scenario.
As a person who suffers from mental illness I have learned to deal with like in my own way on my own terms. Living with schizoaffective disorder has taught me that life (my life) can unravel at the drop of a hat. Fate is fickle and if things had gone differently in my life I might have ended up as a serial killer and the subject of another artists paintings. This is one of the reasons I paint serial killers’ portraits and real crime paintings-as talismans or personal charms that I create as offerings lest I should never forget how things might have been for me.
Real life crime and murder has always held a certain kind of dark fascination for me. As a teenager I studied the life of Charles Manson, reading everything I could find about him and his “family”. I watched every single made for TV movie depicting their life and times-no matter how silly. I felt a connection with them and even went so far as to attempt to tattoo an X on my forehead to show my allegiance to the family. Luckily a sober friend intervened and convinced me to put the tattoo in a less conspicuous place on my body. People still ask me questions about the strange tattoo on my hand.
I like to keep my portraits simple, child like even. The most important feature in my paintings are the eyes: some are dead and soulless, while others are electrified with life and the hatred thereof. My arts goal is to draw you into the energy of the killer and then draw out your curiosity and interest in him or her and what makes them tick.
You can view more of Kimba’s art online at www.kimbas-art.com.
Editor's note: this is a contributor's statement about her own work, written for Serial Killer Magazine and published here as she wrote it, spelling and punctuation included. The artist signs herself Kimba. The web address in the last line was current when the piece ran and this archive has not checked whether it still resolves. It is the companion to the painter Philip R. Mertz's statement, also in this archive; the two were commissioned as a pair and both artists were asked why they paint killers.