Kalaija Mallery is an artist, curator, and the Executive and Artistic Director of The Luminary, a mid-sized non-profit art center in St. Louis. She stewards The Luminary’s artistic programs and projects, which include exhibitions, performances, publications, an international residency program, and a regranting initiative for artists.
Before her time at The Luminary, Kalaija began her career as a visual artist and independent organizer of DIY artist projects and artist-led gallery spaces. In 2017, she founded Third Room Project in Portland, OR, centered on the idea of creating a third place: a space between work and home where regulars gather, new connections and economies are formed, and the oppressed may plot their liberation. She continues to explore the space in-between culture, people, and ideology as a site of potential where we already operate.
From an artist-centered approach, Kalaija has devoted her career to supporting new artistic vision– spending the last ten years curating, co-producing, writing, documenting, and platforming innovative + experimental art forms from emerging – midcareer artists. She is dedicated to doing the most with the least, to healthy framing and good design, and asks, often, “What do we need more than space and each other?”
