ARTIST STATEMENT

I define my practice as Afrobaroque, blending Afrofuturism, the global Baroque, and digital Vodunism. I define my practice as Afrobaroque, blending Afrofuturism, the global Baroque, and digital Vodunism. Through painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, video, experimental sound, photography, performance, and site-specific installation immersive environments, I explore themes of displacement, pain, resilience, and joy, reflecting the complexities of the human experience.

Raised across Haiti, Benin, Jamaica, and Cuba in a multicultural, interfaith family, my work draws on Afro-Caribbean spirituality to confront trauma, exile, and identity. It bridges cultural divides, fostering empathy and dialogue while envisioning a more inclusive, compassionate future.

BIO

Soulé Déesse is an interdisciplinary artist who is committed to using art as a powerful tool for social change and cultural exploration. She has participated in national and international residencies, such as the Bogliasco Foundation in Genoa, Italy, Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, NY, c.r.e.t.a. rome, in Rome, Italy, the Hungarian Multicultural Center in Budapest, Hungary, the Cholamandal Artists Village, Injambakkam in Chennai, India, and the Residencia Internacional de Arte Can Serrat, in Barcelona, Spain. She has received several awards, including Best of Show at the Migrations Film Festival, The Front, New Orleans, LA, and the Yaddo Donald and Genie Rice Filmmaker Residency Grant. Several publications have written about her work, including Art in America, and her paper bag test project was featured on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). She will be a Baldwin Fellow at the Baldwin for the Arts, in the Village of Brewster, New York, in fall 2024.

She has exhibited her work, solo and in collaboration, in the Middle East, Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas, including at such institutions as the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, in Indianapolis, IN, Black Mountain College Museum & Art Center in Asheville, NC, Printed Matter, Inc., in New York, NY, Site:Gallery, in Brooklyn, NY, Mahmoud Darwish Museum, in Bethlehem, Palestine, Center for Global Justice, in San Miguel De Allende, Mexico, Bogotá Arte Contemporaneo Gallery, in Bogotá, Colombia, Galerie Nord, in Berlin, Germany, Greatmore Studios, in Capetown, South Africa, Total Arts Gallery, in Dubai, the Cultural Foundation, in Abu Dhabi, the Katonah Museum of Art, in Katonah, NY, and the B2 Center for Media, Arts & Performance at the Atlas Institute in Boulder, CO.

Soulé Déesse is a Professor of the Practice and Chair in Drawing and Painting at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drawing and Painting, a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, and a Master of Fine Arts from the Tyler School of Art and Architecture in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.