IMAN PERSON
Iman Person’s practice explores the ways in which communication, flora, and biological systems can serve as methods to mediate the self and be used to push society toward an expanded understanding of consciousness. Existing as a first-generation woman of Caribbean and African-American descent, Person travels in what feels like numerous blended realities. Her work becomes a channel for how these varied parts of herself and her ancestral knowledge become a transformative force for black and brown voices staking a claim to a more inclusive future.
Person’s current body of research explores the depths of Black and Indigenous technologies as they exist through ritual, symbiotic relationships with the land, and diasporic memory. Within this research, she engages with Africana cosmologies to create speculative imaginings for constructing new concepts of black futurity and sovereignty.
Person is an MFA candidate in the Design and Media Arts program at UCLA. In 2020, she was the recipient of the 2020 STRP ACT Award for her project New Air. She has exhibited her work throughout the United States and Europe, including The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA), Ars Electronica, the Ionion Center for Art in Kefalonia, Greece, and SoMA Art House in Berlin, Germany.
CV
@imanperso_studio
CV
b. Atlanta, Georgia
Lives and works in Los Angeles
Education
Current graduate student at UCLA
BFA Georgia State University , Atlanta, GA
Selected Exhibitions
Solo Exhibitions
2011,Wellspring, Far.ra.go Gallery, Newnan, GA
2013, Artists in the Community, Tri Cites, East Point, GA
Group Exhibitions
2011
29 29, The Pen, Atlanta, GA
Esoteric Lore: Visual Storytelling, Auburn Research Library, Atlanta, GA
Grok, Kibbee Gallery, Atlanta GA
Emerging Artist of 2011, Spruill Gallery, Atlanta GA
*Ground Floor, Dashboard Co-op, Atlanta, GA
Little Things Mean A Lot, Swan Coach House Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2012
What's Not to Love, Young Blood Gallery, Atlanta, GA
17th Annual Hambidge Auction, he Goat Farm, Atlanta, GA
The Summer Swan Invitational, Swan Coach House Gallery, Atlanta GA
Talent Loves Company, Barbara Archer Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2013
Trois, Neighborhood Gallery, Decatur, GA
Art Papers 14th Annual Art Auction, Mason Murer, Atlanta, GA
75 Blue Doors Project, WonderRoot, Atlanta, GA
18th Annual Hambidge Auction, The Goat Farm, Atlanta, GA
2014
Sense of Self, The Arts Exchange, Atlanta, GA
Walthall Fellowship Exhibition, Gallery 72, Atlanta, GA
hymHouse, Eyedrum, Atlanta,GA
Body Conscious, Hambidge Creative Center for the Arts, Rabun, GA
2015
Art Papers 15th Annual Art Auction, Bobo Intriguing Objects, Atlanta,GA
Art Crush, Burnaway, Atlanta, GA
Contemporary Art Museum of St. Louis Annual Fundraiser,Contemporary Art Museum of St. Louis | St. Louis,MO
Ladies First, Downtown Players Club, Atlanta, GA
Southern Constellations Retrospective, Allcott Gallery,The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
2016
Art Papers 16th Annual Auction, Bobo Intriguing Objects, Atlanta, GA
Where We Are Going, Where We Have Been, MINT Gallery, Atlanta, GA
The Future We Remember, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC
Personal Politics, Hudgens Center for the Arts, Atlanta, GA
Love/d & Sex/ed: Conversations on the Body, Mammal Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2017
Mother Tongue Performance, Performance at Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Bloodlines, Transformer Gallery, Washington D.C
RadiOpolis,Ionion Center for Creative Arts and Culture, Kefalonia, Greece
Performance: Mother Tongue, SoMA Art House, Berlin, Germany
House Amphibia, Argha Noah, Atlanta, 2017
2018
FLUX Projects: Grant Park, Grant Park, Atlanta, GA
An Exploration of Her Ritual, WISH Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Posed, Facet Gallery, Atlanta, GA
20?5, Dashboard, Hapeville, GA
2020
Film Screening of ii bodies, National Black Arts Festival, Atlanta, GA
Curatorial Projects
2016 | Through and Felt, Eyedrum, Atlanta, GA
2018 | First Person Plural,MOCA-GA, Atlanta, GA
2018 | Channeling Language, Ionion Center for the Arts and Culture, Kefalonia, Greece
2019 | Phantoms and Soft Time, Swan Coach House, Atlanta, GA
2019 | Controlled Burn, MOCA-GA, Atlanta, GA
2019 | Qualia Projects, Ongoing curatorial project
2020|
2020|
Teaching Engagements | Lectures
2015, Elsewhere Museum, Greensboro, NC, Resident Artist
2012-15, Callanwolde Fine Arts Center, Atlanta, GA, Youth Mixed Media Instructor
2016, The Canterbury School, Atlanta, GA, Arts Instructor
2016-17, Private In-Home Arts Instructor, Atlanta, GA, Instructor
2018, Channeling Language, Masterclass at Ionion Center For Arts and Culture, Kefalonia,Greece, Facilitator
2016-Present, Hughley Fellowship for Emerging Artists, WonderRoot, Atlanta, GA, Facilitator
Awards | Mentions
2010, Georgia State University Sculpture Garden Recipient, Atlanta,GA
2011, Art on the Beltline| Atlanta Beltline, Atlanta,GA
2012, Emerging Artist Award Nominee, Swan Coach House Gallery, Atlanta GA
2016, MINT Gallery Juried Show, Atlanta, GA
Residencies and Fellowships
2012, Hambidge Creative Residency Program, Raburn, GA
2013, Walthall Fellowship,WonderRoot, Atlanta, GA
2014, Ossabaw Island Residency, Ossabaw Island, GA
2015, National Endowment for the Arts Southern Constellations Fellowship, Elsewhere Museum, Greensboro, NC
2017, Ionion Center for the Arts and Culture, Kefalonia,Greece
2018, Focus Fellowship, Serenbe, Chattahoochee Hills,GA
2019, Coalesce Residency, University of Buffalo, Buffalo, NY
Publications
Williams, Marcus. FORM: Artistic Independence, Atlanta. Vol. 3. Atlanta: CreateSpace, 2010.
Grozdanic, Sanja. "Gender of Genius." Krass Journal 1 Mar. 2015: 136. Print.
Text
Iman Person Resurrects Grant Park’s Forgotten Waterways,
Written by Claire Dempster
September 27, 2018
The Dichotomy and Language of Iman Person
Written by Laura Relyea
"Art as ritual and primordial memory, a studio visit with Iman Person."
Filmed By: Ethan Payne
September 8,2016.
"From Artist to Curator: Iman Person on Curating “Through and Felt” at Eyedrum."
Written by: Logan Lockner
June 23, 2016.
“Through and Felt” group exhibit explores the private and painful aspects of humanity publicly."
Written By: Rachel Jones
Jun 27, 2016.
"Out of This World: “The Future We Remember” at SECCA."
Written By: Amy White
March 28, 2016.
"Is Feminism a Dirty Word in Art?"
Written By: Meredith Kooi
August 27, 2014.
"Introducing Esoteric Lore, a new collective for art and empowerment."
Carla Aaron-Lopez
April 22, 2011