Kayla Painter

Resident Artist – 2025/26

A person wearing a black and cream coloured tracksuit crouches down on a metal walkway with a row of lights suspended above them. They rest one of their hands against the side of their face. — Photo: Eljay (Lynford James)

An experimental sound artist, musician, producer and DJ acclaimed for her immersive, ever evolving AV performances.

Having grown up as a multi-instrumentalist, Kayla Painter’s personal journey has since led her deeper into electronic music production – pushing the boundaries of live electronic music and performance further than ever before.

Painter utilises a distinct combination of mesmerising visuals, layers of rich synths, dynamic, ambient textures and pulsing bass that have led to her undeniable reputation as a pioneering figure within electronic music – from her debut album ‘Fractures’ being awarded ‘Best Electronic Album of the Year’ by Bandcamp, to a breath-taking AV spectacle at the IMAX, regular rotation on 6Music and Radio X, and even sharing a stage with titans of the genre including CLARK, Carl Cox and Rival Consoles.

With an academic speciality in the human relationship with sound, the enduring spirit of experimentation runs deep throughout all her work – from sourcing field recordings to establish a genre she has since dubbed ‘Ambient Owl Core‘, to exploring themes of her mixed Fijian-British heritage, her identity, and the world around her through her compositions.