Biography

Shelly “Lola” Freund is an Israeli-Salvadoran artist currently based in Boston. She holds a BFA in Painting and Digital Art from Elon University, and is currently pursuing an MFA in Studio Art from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University.

Working primarily in painting, printmaking, and mixed-media, she uses play as a tool to address ideas of identity politics and migratory aesthetics. Shelly has exhibited at various group exhibitions and juried shows, namely Party of One (Boston, MA), Reminiscence (Boston, MA), and Change is Not a Four-Letter Word (Elon, NC). Multiple of her works have been published on the 71st, 72nd, and 73rd issues of Colonnades Literary and Art Journal.

One of her pieces, veo veo que ves? is part of Elon University’s Permanent Student Art Collection.  

Artist Statement

Combining my Middle Eastern and Central American backgrounds, my work addresses identity, the bilingual experience, and the diaspora I grew up in. My work aims to discover a playful language that blends physical and imagined borders. Do you also get lemons and limes confused?