Filed under:
Movement abounds in the energetic, vibrant work Window of Possibility, created by Keilani Talma, featured artist for Commencement 2026. Circling brush strokes evoke the pathways of water, swirling waves, and lush flora. This makes sense for Keilani, a swim team captain at Sarah Lawrence and former national team swimmer in Barbados, where she grew up. “I am from an island, which means that I've always been around water. A lot of my work is movement, it details movement and flow.”
Graduating students were invited to submit artwork to be used as the cover image for the College’s 98th Commencement, adorning programs, campus screens, emails, tickets, and more. Student art plays an important role in Sarah Lawrence commencements as a memorable reflection of the wide-ranging creativity and talent of our students. After a particularly competitive open call with many compelling submissions, members of the Commencement Committee landed on three works to submit to President Cristle Collins Judd for final selection. As the selected artist, Keilani received a $250 prize.
After recruitment outreach from Sarah Lawrence Athletics, Keilani discovered that her grandmother, Norma Talma ‘58, was also an alumna of the College and knew that she had to attend. Keilani’s journey with painting began as a child following her grandmother — a painter and paper maker herself — to art shows. At Sarah Lawrence, Keilani continued her pursuit of art, adding classes in Printmaking and Sculpture while also being able to explore an interest in Urban Studies, taking a range of classes from Geospatial Data Analysis to Spaces of Exclusion, Places of Belonging, an Anthropology course with Deanna Barenboim. On the latter, Keilani recalls, “Deanna's really a great professor, and [the class] introduced me to the idea of creating space — public spaces, artist spaces — and has interested me in going into that direction. That was kind of a 'wow' moment where I thought maybe I could do this when I leave college.”
Outside the classroom, Keilani has been no less involved. Her swimming career at SLC boasts a long list of accomplishments, including the school record in the 100 and 200 freestyle. She studied in Florence during her junior year and was selected as one of two students to go on a summer trip to Malaysia with sociology faculty Parthiban Muniandy to study migration.
In creating Window of Possibility in a painting class with Yevgeniya Baras, Keilani began with a more abstract base of the semicircular frames in the work. Then, the central window emerged as a focus and the 3D elements, including pieces of cloth and dried acrylic paint, were layered on. “It actually began with this semicircle … and then I decided to go in with a window, to see what happens if a window goes into the beyond.”
For Keilani, what’s beyond graduation on May 8 is graduate school; she’s currently deciding between two Master’s Programs in Urban Design. She’ll take with her the expansive perspective that a Sarah Lawrence education can offer, reflecting on her art, “My idea of ‘multimedia’ before coming to college was limited. But coming here allowed me to see that it can be as wide as you want. There's no limit.”
Congratulations, Keilani, and congratulations to the Class of 2026!