Sam Vernon

I believe we have the ability to simultaneously address an artist’s intention, goals and investigation while keeping foremost in our minds that their lived experience, cultural background, influences and perspectives have in some way shaped the work. I encourage critical feedback and varied scholarship that expands beyond cushy contemporary and art historical points of departure, and deals directly with globalization, socio-political impact, the realities of creative diaspora, non-artistic parallel practices and beyond. I hope this project challenges us to keep learning, celebrating and healing through artists and art in our own creative existence. We are responsible for recreating our own image and reaffirming our humanity.

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Sam Vernon graduated from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in 2009 with the award for Excellence in Drawing. Spanning a range of media, Vernon employs drawing, printmaking and photography to pay homage to the past and revise the traditional ghost story, addressing questions of postcoloniality, racialization, sexuality and historical memory. Post-undergraduate studies she worked as Development & Marketing Manager for BRIC Rotunda Gallery in its previous Brooklyn Heights location. In 2011 Vernon moved to the D.C. area and directed the public art program for Prince George’s County, MD – a suburban county of nearly 900,000 citizens. She is currently pursuing her Masters of Fine Art in Painting/Printmaking at Yale University. Vernon has most recently exhibited with the Barbara Walters Gallery at Sarah Lawrence College, the Ewing Gallery of Art & Architecture at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, the Emery Community Arts Center at the University of Maine, Farmington, Reginald Ingraham Gallery, Los Angeles, and MoCADA, or the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts in Brooklyn.