About Bailey
Artist Statement
I live in a world of oracles, where everyday objects whisper stories to me about our collective yet deeply individual human experiences – stories old as time itself, yet as modern as you and me. For decades, I’ve studied and written stories around global folklore, myths, and mystic rituals that shape the stories we live by to this day. Time and again, I am always led to the magic seam that runs beneath the surface of the seemingly mundane.
My stories do not stay on the page. They live in the world as story objects in site-specific participatory installations that are at once public and intimate, experiential and intuitive, for both myself and my audience. My mixed media approach combines words, images, and reimagined materials into experiences featuring constellations of story objects for the audience to encounter unexpectedly as they go about their day.
Each story chooses its recipients through a natural kind of alchemy: An object makes someone smile, so they interact with it. In the space that opens, a small story appears, one that invites the audience to celebrate their existence and reflect on their good fortune to be connected with themselves, each other, the place around them, and all that is.
Bio
Bailey Lewis is an experiential storytelling artist and writer (MFA, University of South Carolina). She combines words, images, and reimagined materials to create intuitive story experiences. In Bailey's work, each story chooses its recipient, inviting audiences into personal and collective explorations of connection to ourselves, each other, and all that is.
Bailey’s work has been exhibited and published internationally. She is the author of award-winning stories, which have been featured in The Wigleaf Top 50 and nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Bailey has been featured by Adobe, Progress, and others for her unique approach to interactive storytelling. Her public artwork, The Gumball Machine of Great Fortune, received a 2026 Public Art Grant from ArtFields Festival for its installation in Lake City, South Carolina.
If you can’t find Bailey, look by the water. She’s probably researching an ancient mermaid or listening to a starfish tell its secrets. Or, you can always find her online at baileysendsword.com.