Torkwase Dyson (born 1973,

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Beacon, New York,

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. Dyson describes the themes of her work as "architecture, infrastructure,

environmental justice Environmental justice is a social movement that addresses injustice that occurs when poor or marginalized communities are harmed by hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses from which they do not benefit. The movement has gene ...

, and abstract drawing." Her work is informed by her own theory of Black Compositional Thought. This working term considers how spatial networks—paths, throughways, water, architecture, and geographies—are composed by Black bodies as a means of exploring potential networks for Black liberation. She is represented by

Pace Gallery The Pace Gallery is a contemporary and modern art gallery with 9 locations worldwide. It was founded in Boston by Arne Glimcher in 1960. His son, Marc Glimcher, is now president and CEO. Pace Gallery operates in New York, London, Hong Kong, ...

and Richard Gray Gallery.

Background and education

Dyson was born in Chicago, Illinois. She attended Tougaloo College where she earned degrees in sociology and social work. In 1999 she received a BFA from

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a Public university, public research university in Richmond, Virginia, United States. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virgin ...

. She received her MFA in painting/printmaking from

Yale School of Art The Yale School of Art is the art school of Yale University. Founded in 1869 as the first professional fine arts school in the United States, it grants Master of Fine Arts, Masters of Fine Arts degrees to students completing a two-year course in g ...

in 2003.

Projects

Studio South Zero x In Conditions of Fresh Water

Studio South Zero
(SSZ) was Dyson's mobile solar-powered art studio. In 2016, Dyson and environmental social scientist Danielle Purifoy, traversed post-Bellum black communities in Alamance County, NC and Lowndes County, AL in Studio South Zero, collaborating with community members to create an assemblage of oral histories, artifacts, images, and materials to understand the traditions and nuances of black environmental, cultural, and economic placemaking. In 2017, this assemblage was exhibited in
In Conditions of Fresh Water: An Artistic Exploration of Environmental Racism
' at Duke University Center for Documentary Studies.

The Wynter-Wells Drawing School for Environmental Justice

From February 24, 2018, to March 11, 2018, Dyson led a two-week series of classes, discussions, and experiments held at the Drawing Center. Named the Wynter-Wells Drawing School for Environmental Justice after Jamaican writer Sylvia Wynter and American civil rights leader

Ida B. Wells Ida Bell Wells-Barnett (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931) was an American investigative journalist, sociologist, educator, and early leader in the civil rights movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advance ...

, "The School presented an experimental curriculum employing techniques culled from the visual arts as well as design theories of geography, infrastructure, engineering, and architecture to initiate dialogue about geography and spatiality in an era of global crisis due to human-induced climate change." From May 3, 2018, to July 28, 2018, The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Arts presented an exhibition of Dyson's work building off of her two-week residency at the Drawing Center, ''Winter Term''. The exhibition consisted of new site-specific drawings and a series of programming under the title ''The Wynter-Wells Drawing School for Environmental Liberation'', as part of Dyson's pedagogical approach to art-making, consisting of a series of workshops, lectures, and an open studio where Dyson would actively produce and alter the work on view in front of the public.

Exhibitions

Dyson's work has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide. Her sculptures, paintings, drawings, and performances have been included in numerous solo exhibitions and installations at institutions, including

Serpentine Galleries The Serpentine Galleries are two contemporary art galleries in Kensington Gardens, Westminster, Greater London. Recently rebranded to just Serpentine, the organisation is split across Serpentine South, previously known as the Serpentine Galler ...

, Hall Art Foundation,

New Orleans Museum of Art The New Orleans Museum of Art (or NOMA) is the oldest art museum, fine arts museum in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, New Orleans. It is situated within City Park (New Orleans), City Park, a short distance from the intersection of Carrollton ...

, Arthur Ross Architecture Gallery at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at The Cooper Union, Colby Museum of Art at Colby College, Suzanne Lemberg Usdan Gallery at Bennington College, Rhona Hoffman Gallery,

Graham Foundation The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts is a 501(c)3 non-profit that "fosters the development and exchange of diverse and challenging ideas about architecture and its role in the arts, culture, and society. The Graham realize ...

, Davidson Contemporary, The Drawing Center, Landmark Gallery at

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public university, public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship instit ...

, Second Street Gallery, Industry City Gallery/ Eyebeam, Hemphill Fine Arts, Schiltkamp Gallery at

Clark University Clark University is a private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1887 with a large endowment from its namesake Jonas Gilman Clark, a prominent businessman, Clark was one of the first modern research uni ...

, Meat Market Gallery, Ty Stokes Gallery, and

Corcoran School of the Arts and Design The Corcoran School of the Arts and Design (known as the Corcoran School or CSAD) is the professional art school of the George Washington University, in Washington, D.C.Peggy McGloneUniversity names first director of Corcoran School of the Arts a ...

. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at Passerelle Centre d'art contemporain, Parrish Art Museum, The

Mississippi Museum of Art The Mississippi Museum of Art is a public museum in Jackson, Mississippi. It is the largest museum in Mississippi. Location It is located at the corner of 380 South Lamar Street and 201 East Pascagoula Street in Jackson, Mississippi.Lee Ellis, '' ...

, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Gladstone Gallery, Gracie Mansion Conservancy, Alexander Gray Associates, California African American Museum,

Sharjah Sharjah (; ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It is the capital of the Emirate of Sharjah and forms part of the D ...

at United Arab Emirates, The Studio Museum in Harlem, Socrates Sculpture Park, Whitney Museum Museum of Art, Duke University Center for Documentary Studies, the Harvey B. Gantt Center and more. Dyson has participated in Performa 19 creating a two-act performance and sculptural instillation title
''I'' ''Can Drink the Distance: Plantationocene in 2 Acts''
(2019). Curated by Mark Beasley, the commissioned work was presented from November 19 to November 22, 2019. In 2023, Torwase Dyson's work is being presented at the

São Paulo Art Biennial The São Paulo Art Biennial ( Portuguese: ''Bienal de São Paulo'') was founded in 1951 and has been held every two years since. It is the second oldest art biennial in the world after the Venice Biennale (in existence since 1895), which serves as ...

, in the city of

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Their piece "Liquid a Place" is also being exhibited in

Tate Liverpool Tate Liverpool is an art gallery in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, and part of Tate, along with Tate St Ives, Cornwall, Tate Britain, London, and Tate Modern, London. The gallery was an initiative of the Merseyside Development Corporatio ...

as part of the 2023

Liverpool Biennial Liverpool Biennial is the largest international contemporary art festival in the United Kingdom. Since its launch in 1998, Liverpool Biennial has commissioned over 380 new artworks and presented work by over 530 artists from around the world. ...

"uMoya".

Collections

Dyson's work is included in the collections of the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

, Hall Art Foundation, The Long Museum, Mead Art Museum,

Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum is an art museum located on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis, within the university's Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. Founded in 1881 as the St. Louis School and Museum of Fine Arts, i ...

Smith College Museum of Art The Smith College Museum of Art, abbreviated SCMA, is the art museum of Smith College, located in Northampton, Massachusetts, Northampton, Massachusetts. First established in 1870, the museum is part of the American Alliance of Museums, Five Coll ...

, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture and The Studio Museum in Harlem.

Awards

In 2016, Dyson was elected to the board of the

Architectural League of New York The Architectural League of New York is a non-profit organization "for creative and intellectual work in architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construct ...

as Vice President of Visual Arts. In 2019, Dyson was awarded the Studio Museum's Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize and the

Anonymous Was a Woman award The Anonymous Was A Woman Award is a grant program for women artists who are over 40 years of age, in part to counter sexism in the art world. It began in 1996 in direct response to the National Endowment for the Arts' decision to stop funding i ...

for painting. In addition to many other grants, fellowships and residencies, she has been the recipient of The Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Grant, Nancy Graves Grant for Visual Artists, Brooklyn Arts Council grant,

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

Paul Harper Residency at

Vermont Studio Center The Vermont Studio Center (VSC) is a non-profit arts organization located in the town of Johnson, Vermont. It conducts the largest fine arts and writing residency program in the United States, with a significant population of international artis ...

, Spelman College Art Fellowship, and

Yaddo Yaddo is an artists' community located on a estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment.". On March ...

Select lectures and panels

In 2017, Dyson was on the faculty of the

Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture is an artists residency located in Madison, Maine, just outside of Skowhegan. Every year, the program accepts online applications from emerging artists from November through January, and selects 65 ...

and has been a visiting critic at

. In addition to being a guest lecturer, she has participated in a number of panel discussions, artists talks, readings and performance lectures in collaboration with Black environmentalists, artists, poets, architects, dancers, and musicians.

2022

, New York, NY, ''Torkwase Dyson in Conversation with Mario Gooden: On the History of Infrastructure in Dyson's Practice'', December 7

2021

, London, UK, ''Torkwase Dyson: Liquid A Place,'' October 7, 9, 11

2018

, Chicago, IL, '' Christina Sharpe and Torkwase Dyson in Conversation'', June 14 *

, Jackson, MS, ''Race, Space, and Abstraction in the American South'', February 17 * Drawing Center, New York, NY, ''Wynter-Wells Drawing School for Environmental Justice Panel Discussion'', March 1

2017

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

, Durham, NC, ''In Conditions of Fresh Water'', March 20 *

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

, New York, NY, Artists on Artworks series, ''Three Conditions of Space'', March 24 *

The New School The New School is a Private university, private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for p ...

, New York, NY, Visiting Artist Lecture Series, April 26 *

, Skowhegan, ME, Barbara Lee Lecture Series, June 23 * ArtCenter / South Florida, Miami FL, ''On Documentary Abstraction'', August 30 *

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1805, it is the longest continuously operating art museum and art school in the United States. The academy's museum ...

, Philadelphia, PA, ''Hyper Shape'', December 6 * Design Miami, Miami, FL, ''Concept, Abstraction, Blackness'', December 8

2016

Studio Museum in Harlem The Studio Museum in Harlem is an African-American art museum at 144 West 125th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. Founded in 1968, the museum collects, preserves and interprets art created by African A ...

, New York, NY, ''The Artist's Voice'', February 4 * Eyebeam, New York, NY, ''Black Spatial Matters'', April 9 *

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

, Tucson, AZ, Visual Artists and Scholars Committee, ''Illegal Abstraction A Single Author'', October 6 *

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

, New York, NY, ''On Painting'', October 19 * Drawing Center, New York, NY, ''Open Session 9: Cartography of Ghosts'', December 15

2015

* University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, ''Values of Color'', February 20

2014

Reed College Reed College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland, Portland, Oregon, E ...

, Portland, OR, ''Nothing Disappears: Site/Environment/Installation and the Re-alignments Happening in My Imagination'', April 17 *

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

, Brown International Advanced Research Institutes (BIARI) Connections and Flows: Water, Energy and Digital Information in the Global South, ''Studio South Zero: Looking at Urban Ecological Aesthetics'', June 19

References

External links

Official websitePage Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyson, Torkwase Living people Artists from Brooklyn 21st-century American artists 21st-century African-American artists 1973 births 21st-century American women artists Artists from Chicago