WELCOME
Hi my name is Malaya Bengel. I am a multidisciplinary artist in Fine Arts, Illustration, and Community Work. Thank you so much for visiting my website :))
I just GRADUATED!!!
On May 14, 2025 I graduated from Parsons School of Design with my BFA in Fine Arts and on May 15, 2025 I graduated from Eugene Lang School of Liberal Arts with my BA in Visual Studies.
My work…
Fine Arts
I embrace an unconventional yet authentic approach to developing my style and voice in Fine Arts. I combine traditional and non-traditional materials and techniques. Painting, sculpture, installation, research, and writing express my relationships to self, trauma, healing, and community. Intersectional feminist, critical race, and disability theories support my work alongside spiritual and psychological studies. I am currently focusing on the development of tactility and access in my work.
Scribble Art & Community Work
Scribble Art is an art wellness workshop and theory I have been building for over three years now. A process of detachement-risk-discovery leads an approach to understanding current thought patterns and developing new ones. Accessibility is woven into every step through materials, instructions, and accommodations. Scribble Art balances both self and individual development. Autonomous practice support describes my commitment to strengthening participants’ practices, voices, and confidence in decision making. Scribble Art is also a grounding and sensory focused tool for emotional processing.
Illustration
I have over ten years of experience illustrating children’s content and graphic design both digitally and traditionally. I am currently working on my first children’s book written and illustrated by myself! In its third year of development, Akia’s Scribble Art, shares tools and vocabulary for anxiety and panic attacks with children. It focuses on developing relationships with our mental health and draws from the research I’ve done with Scribble Art. The book shares the tools of Scribble Art to children in a narrative format, ending with directions to try Scribble Art!
“Self and communal liberation are relationships I believe we are all owed and have the power to reach.”
Malaya Bengel
