About the Artist: Kiara Gilbert (Atlanta, GA)
Kiara Gilbert (they/them) explores how emotional landscapes are shaped and perceptions of history are misinformed by colonized narratives surrounding the past. Growing up black and queer in the South has given them a reverence for the culture and beliefs that enslaved people cultivated and the desire to center black diasporic perspectives in their life and work. Through the use of print media and sculptural installations, they create scenes that speak on feelings of frustration, love, listlessness, and ancestral loss. Gilbert has been a recipient of the Six Creative Grant, the Janice Hartwell Award in Printmaking, a 2019 participant in the Humanity in Action Berlin Fellowship, a Mint Leap Year Fellow from 2022-2023, and are currently a South Fulton Arts Partner Program Participant.
About the Project:
“As a black queer southerner, understanding the varied ways queer people have existed both above, and below ground for centuries is integral to my practice. Savannah provides an exceptionally fertile ground for this study because so many contemporary black, queer social practices are a product of, or in direct retaliation to the slave trade and Reconstruction Period that has shaped and marred Savannah.” — Kiara Gilbert
During their Residency, Kiara will expand on a body of work that centers their research on queer lineage and the non-normative ways it manifests through communal spaces and experiences. Combining sculpture with printmaking through dimensional forms and papier maché, they will activate the studio windows with rotating works that can be experienced in the round. Gilbert will also conduct research on black, queer history of Savannah and its impacts on the scene today. This research will entail accessing the archives at the Kaye Kole Local History & Genealogy Room in the Bull Street Branch Library, engaging with other queer artists through workshops and studio visits, and existing in the local queer community. While much of their work deals with the darker or more secretive side of queer history, Kiara will use their time in the Residency to incorporate historical queer joy and celebration.
