Bianca Casady is best known as one half of the eccentric and beloved musical duo CocoRosie, but she was a visual artist long before she recorded the first CocoRosie album in a bathroom in Montmarte. Casady’s music and fine art are both about, in Casady’s words, “people who are abused by society.” As a visual artist and in her songwriting for CocoRosie, Casady confronts race and gender issues through characters like prisoners, slaves, widows, trans-genders, orphans, gangs, and so on. “Eventually the prison bars become rose bushes and floral patterns,” she told ArtInfo.

“It’s through the music that I’ve been invited as an artist to show my work,” Bianca explains. The video below juxtaposes the artwork, a performance in the gallery, and an intimate concert by CocoRosie.

Casady’s solo show at Cheim & Read gallery in Chelsea features her most recent work in media including drawing, watercolor, collage, photography, and audio and video works. Bianca Casady: Daisy Chain is on view through September 8 at Cheim & Read in Chelsea.