Alayna Weldon is an interdisciplinary creator from Norman, Oklahoma. She makes figurative artwork that focuses on the female or AFAB form, most often representing herself and her own body. Weldon’s artwork expresses every facet of herself, including her own experience as a formerly-closeted queer woman who has suffered from mental health issues, severe panic and anxiety, eating disorders, and various other mental health problems from social issues she faced in her childhood. Her personal practice explores the concept of femininity as a spiritual facet that is housed in us all, regardless of sex or gender, and reclaiming femininity after centuries of a European patriarchy shaming it into the shadows. 

Weldon’s work draws on historical research that she completes through a lens of critical and feminist theory. With this background, she can identify patterns that affect our current society which allows her to create works that step outside of the closed and excluding narrative that our society has written. Weldon’s works relate to an entire community of AFAB people and women who underwent the same societal brainwashing to deny their true selves. As we undergo a journey to unlearn this denial of ourselves, Weldon’s hope is that her artwork comforts those who most relate while disturbing those who seek to deny these societal issues.

Outside of her personal practice, Weldon has served as a personal assistant for an established sculptor and artist, participated in several iron pours, worked with photography companies for event and studio photography, worked with drama departments to create costumes, background props, and interacting props, has studied prosthetic and special effect practices, and engages in industry-standard practices for photography, mold-making, design, space construction/management, and curatorial practices. 

Weldon graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a BFA in Art, Technology, and Culture, and a BA in Art History, Summa cum Laude.