Intisar Abioto (born 1986) is an artist and storyteller currently living and working in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. Working within and between the forms of

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

collaboration Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. The ...

prose Prose is language that follows the natural flow or rhythm of speech, ordinary grammatical structures, or, in writing, typical conventions and formatting. Thus, prose ranges from informal speaking to formal academic writing. Prose differs most n ...

, and

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

, Abioto explores the meaning of time, space, and belonging within the construction of who, where, and what composes the

African diaspora The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from List of ethnic groups of Africa, people from Africa. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the native West Africa, West and Central Africans who were ...

. Abioto has travelled across

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

to tell stories of personal identity and collective belonging. Her work interprets the tradition of Africans who can fly into contemporary and local landscapes, highlighting the fluidity of migration across national and natural boundaries. With the five women artists in her family, she is a cofounder of Studio Abiotto.

Early life and education

Born in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

, Abioto moved to

as a young adult with her family. Herself and four sisters infused this new home base with the creativity intuitive to their home town community and upbringing. She completed undergraduate studies at

Spelman College Spelman College is a Private college, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia ...

and

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

Career

From 2007 to 2009 Abioto travelled 200,000 miles around the world with her sisters, documenting oral histories of about the stories and dreams of young people, especially people of color. This project was based on

Virginia Hamilton Virginia Esther Hamilton (March 12, 1936 – February 19, 2002) was an American children's books author. She wrote 41 books, including '' M. C. Higgins, the Great'' (1974), for which she won the U.S. National Book Award for Young People's Literat ...

's book The People Could Fly. In 2013 Abioto started The Black Portlanders, a

tumblr Tumblr (pronounced "tumbler") is a microblogging and Social networking service, social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and is owned by American company Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content ...

blog that has since expanded from the digital platform into gallery installations. Originally the project began as a way to expand the stories of who belongs in Portland, while honoring the multiple displacements that have disproportionally affected African Americans in Portland from Vanport to contemporary urban reinvestment strategies. By capturing the full spectrum of identity and belonging within the urban landscape of Portland, the project offers a counter-narrative to press branding Portland as "the whitest city in America". Herself a member of the African Diaspora, The Black Portlanders uses photography to tell stories of transnational migration of African peoples to Portland from a perspective that is at once personal and transcendent. In 2015, Abioto expanded the project to include rural experiences by partnering with the

National Urban League The National Urban League (NUL), formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan historic civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of economic and social justice for Afri ...

Portland chapter to illustrate a reissue of the State of Black Oregon, a report documenting economic inequities faced by African American communities across the state with an emphasis on resulting migration shifts. This social justice tool kit was enhanced by Abioto's creative vision, which honors the history of migration from the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

to the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

. The project includes multiple images of each person she photographs, allowing the complexity of each person's natural expressions to unfold from the lenses of camera, the artist's eye, and the viewer's retina.

Exhibitions

Abioto's work has been featured in galleries internationally such as

Portland Art Museum The Portland Art Museum (PAM) is an art museum in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. The Portland Art Museum has 240,000 square feet (22,000 m2), with more than 112,000 square feet (10,400 m2) of gallery space. The museum’s permanent c ...

Portland State University Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the next ...

's Littman Gallery, and

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

's defunct Portland-based gallery White Box. In 2019, she exhibited and performed with nine Oregon-based Black artists against the inner expanse of the Oregon State Capitol building in Salem as a part of the Governor's Office solo exhibition.

Awards and honors

* 2018: Oregon Humanities Emerging Journalists, Community Stories Fellowship * 2019: Women of Excellence in the Arts Award from the Portland Alumnae Chapter of

Delta Sigma Theta Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. () is a List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, sorority. The organization was founded by college-educated women dedicated to public service with an emp ...

sorority * 2020: Lilla Jewel Award for Womxn Artists from the Seeding Justice Foundation

References

External links

impactmania "Intisar Abioto: Visual Voice" by Jody Turner
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abioto, Intisar 1986 births Living people Artists from Portland, Oregon Artists from Memphis, Tennessee Spelman College alumni Wesleyan University alumni African Americans in Oregon