Steffani Jemison

Steffani Jemison is an American artist born in 1981 in Berkeley, California, who is based in Brooklyn, New York. She works across various media, including video, performance, sculpture, and photography, to explore notions of progress and alternatives to it. Jemison's work is rooted in research and frequently addresses African-American culture and vernacular, as well as the tension between private, social, and political spheres.

Jemison's video works are heavily influenced by early cinematography and often challenge inherited narratives that shape our perception of the world. She questions the structures and limits of narrative storytelling and linear time, using various techniques to examine the relationship between history and the present moment.

Jemison's work is held in the collections of several institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and Kadist in Paris. She has had numerous solo exhibitions and performances at institutions such as the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Jeu de Paume in Paris, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Bordeaux.

In addition to her individual practice, Jemison collaborates with artist Justin Hicks under the name Mikrokosmos, presenting performances at various venues such as MASS MoCA and the steirischer herbst festival. Her work has been included in the Whitney Biennial and the touring exhibition "Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem."