Kenturah Davis vive e lavora tra Los Angeles, California e Accra, Ghana. L'artista si è laureata presso l'Occidental College, CA e MFA presso la Yale University School of Art nel 2018. Il lavoro di Davis oscilla tra le varie sfaccettature della ritrattistica e del design. Usando il testo come punto di partenza, l'artista esplora il ruolo fondamentale che il linguaggio ha nel modellare il modo in cui comprendiamo noi stessi e il mondo che ci circonda. Ciò si manifesta in una varietà di forme tra cui disegni, fotografie e spettacoli.

Davis aprirà la sua prima mostra istituzionale personale Everything That Cannot Be Known al Savannah College of Art and Design Museum (SCAD) a febbraio (2020). Altre mostre personali includono Blur in the Interest of Precision, Matthew Brown Los Angeles (2019), Narratives and Meditations (2014) e sonder (2013), Papillion, Los Angeles. I progetti pubblici includono Four Women, un murale commissionato da Alliance Francaise per commemorare la Giornata internazionale della donna, ad Accra, Ghana e Metamorphose, composto da cinque ritratti commissionati dall'architetto Elliott Barnes, presenti nell'installazione di Barnes all'Exposition AD Interieurs di Parigi, Francia. Il suo lavoro è stato in presentazioni istituzionali in Africa, Asia, Australia ed Europa. Le mostre recenti includono Plumb Line: Charles White and the Contemporary, a cura di Essence Harden e Leigh Raiford al California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA e Afrocosmologies: American Reflections, al Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT. Altre importanti mostre istituzionali includono: We Must Risk Delight, organizzato in collaborazione con la 56a Biennale di Venezia; Linked in Tradition, Inspiring in Vision: A Selection of Works di African American Women Artists, Robert and Frances Museum of Art, San Bernadino, CA (2017); Black Joy, Yale University, New Haven, CT (2016); The Silence of Ordinary Things, The Mistake Room, Los Angeles (2015); i: 23, The Yokohama Triennial, Yokohama, Giappone (2014); An AmericanWater Margin, Ucity Museum, Guangzhou, Cina (2014); Mass Attack presso il Torrance Art Museum, CA (2013); Mis-Design, Ian Potter Museum, Melbourne, Australia (2011). Nel 2019 Davis ha partecipato a una mostra per due persone con Desmond Lewis presso Crosstown Arts, Memphis, TN in coordinamento con la sede itinerante, Seed Space e Punch, a cura di Nina Chanel Abney, a Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles, CA. Davis è stato incaricato dalla Metro Rail di Los Angeles di creare lavori su larga scala specifici per il sito che verranno installati in modo permanente sulla nuova linea ferroviaria Crenshaw / LAX, che aprirà nel 2020. L'artista ha recentemente completato una borsa di studio presso NXTHVN, fondata da Titus Kaphar e Jonathan Brand e una borsa di studio DAMLI al Cleveland Museum of Art.

 

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Kenturah Davis lives and works between Los Angeles, CA and Accra, Ghana. The artist earned her BA from Occidental College, CA and MFA from Yale University School of Art in 2018. Davis’ work oscillates between various facets of portraiture and design. Using text as a point of departure, the artist explores the fundamental role that language has in shaping how we understand ourselves and the world around us. This manifests in a variety of forms including drawings, photographs and performances. 

Davis will open her first solo institutional exhibition Everything That Cannot Be Known at the Savannah College of Art and Design Museum (SCAD) in February (2020). Other solo exhibitions include Blur in the Interest of Precision, Matthew Brown Los Angeles (2019), Narratives and Meditations (2014) and sonder (2013), Papillion, Los Angeles. Public projects include Four Women, a commissioned mural by Alliance Francaise to commemorate International Women’s Day, in Accra, Ghana and Metamorphose, comprised of five portraits commissioned by architect, Elliott Barnes, featured in Barnes’ installation at the La Exposition AD Interieurs, Paris, France. Her work has been in institutional presentations in Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe. Recent exhibitions include Plumb Line: Charles White and the Contemporary, curated by Essence Harden and Leigh Raiford at the California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA as well as Afrocosmologies: American Reflections, at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT. Other notable institutional exhibitions include: We Must Risk Delight, organized in collaboration with the 56th Venice Biennale; Linked in Tradition, Inspiring in Vision: A Selection of Works by African American Women Artists, Robert and Frances Museum of Art, San Bernadino, CA (2017); Black Joy, Yale University, New Haven, CT (2016); The Silence of Ordinary Things, The Mistake Room, Los Angeles (2015); i:23, The Yokohama Triennial, Yokohama, Japan (2014); An AmericanWater Margin, Ucity Museum, Guangzhou, China (2014); Mass Attack at the Torrance Art Museum, CA (2013); Mis-Design, Ian Potter Museum, Melbourne, Australia (2011). In 2019 Davis participated in a two person exhibition with Desmond Lewis at Crosstown Arts, Memphis, TN in coordination with the traveling venue, Seed Space as well as Punch, curated by Nina Chanel Abney, at Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles, CA. Davis was commissioned by the Los Angeles Metro Rail to create large-scale, site-specific work that will be permanently installed on the new Crenshaw/LAX rail line, opening in 2020.

The artist recently completed a fellowship at NXTHVN, founded by Titus Kaphar and Jonathan Brand and a DAMLI fellowship at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

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