Akea Brionne
Akea Brionne is a lens-based media and textiles artist investigating the implications of historical racial and social structures in relation to the development of contemporary Black life and identity within America. Utilizing excess to subvert hegemonic structures, her jeweled canvases analyze the impact of colonial systems on cultural storytelling, memory, assimilation, and the African Diaspora, primarily within American and Caribbean society. Through a methodology of Afro-Surrealism, her practice is a continuous investigation into the self. Focusing on the ways history influences the contemporary cultural milieu of the American Black middle class and the history of urban and suburban planning, she explores current political and social themes related to historical forms of oppression, discrimination, segregation, and black identity.
Akea Brionne, Wade in the Water, 2023, Digital woven image on jacquard, rhinestones, poly-fil, and thread, 48 x 48 inches, 121.9 x 121.9 cm
Akea Brionne, Home Grown, 2023, Digital woven image on jacquard, rhinestones, poly-fil, and thread, 60 x 48 inches, 152.4 x 121.9 cm
Akea Brionne, Garden's Grow, 2024, Digital woven image on jacquard, rhinestones, poly-fil, and thread, 36 x 48 inches, 91.4 x 121.9 cm
Akea Brionne, Open Water, 2024, Digital woven image on jacquard, rhinestones, poly-fil, and thread, 36 x 48 inches, 91.4 x 121.9 cm
Akea Brionne, Roses Grow in Southern Soil, Installation View at Lyles & King, New York, NY, January 12 - February 10, 2024
Akea Brionne, Roses Grow in Southern Soil, Installation View at Lyles & King, New York, NY, January 12 - February 10, 2024
Akea Brionne, Roses Grow in Southern Soil, Installation View at Lyles & King, New York, NY, January 12 - February 10, 2024
Akea Brionne, Kitchen Table, 2023, Digital woven image on jacquard, rhinestones, poly-fil, and thread, 60 x 48 inches, 152.4 x 121.9 cm
Akea Brionne, A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration, Installation View at the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, March 3–June 25, 2023
Akea Brionne, Forbidden Fruit, 2023, Rhinestones, poly-fil, and thread, 60 x 48 inches, 152.4 x 121.9 cm
Akea Brionne, Uproot, 2023, Digital Rhinestones, poly-fil, and thread, 60 x 48 inches, 152.4 x 121.9 cm
Akea Brionne (b. 1996; New Orleans, LA) was recently named to Forbes' 30 Under 30 in 2024 in the Art & Culture category. Her work has recently been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, NY; the Baltimore Museum of Art, MD; the California African American Museum, CA; Mississippi Museum of Art, MS; Wellin Museum of Art, NY; Cranbrook Museum of Art, MI; and Library Street Collective, MI, among others. Brionne’s work is in the collections of Mississippi Museum of Art, MS; the Cranbrook Museum of Art, MI; Wellin Museum of Art, NY; the Baltimore Museum of Art, MD; and Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, CA; among others. She was the youngest artist included in the California African American Museum group exhibition, A Movement in Every Direction:Legacies of the Great Migration, which was named by the New York Times as one of the best shows of 2022. She lives and works between Detroit and Kansas City.