Steffani Jemison (1981, Berkley, California, USA) uses time-based, photographic, and discursive platforms to examine "progress" and its alternatives. Her work encompasses a variety of media, including video, performance and sculpture, and is rooted in research. In her work Jemison addresses African-American culture and vernacular as well as the tensions between the private, social and political spheres through a variety of means, often examining the limits and structures of narrative storytelling and linear time. Her video works are frequently based around early cinematography, assimilating early cinematic tropes and techniques, to question the inherited narratives that form our perception of the world.
Steffani Jemison lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Her work is part of the collection of a.o.: MOMA (NY, USA); Whitney Museum of American Art (NY, USA); Kadist (Paris, FR); Brooklyn Museum of Art (NY, USA); Studio Museum in Harlem (NY, USA). Recent solo exhibitions and commissioned performances include Annet Gelink Gallery (2020), Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (2019), De Appel (2019), Jeu de Paume (2017), CAPC Bordeaux (2017), MASS MoCA (2017), Nottingham Contemporary (2017), RISD Museum (2015), and the Museum of Modern Art (2015). Solo screening programs include Lincoln Center: Art of the Real (2018) and Gene Siskel Film Center: Conversations at the Edge (2018). Jemison’s work is included in the Whitney Biennial 2019 as well as in the touring group exhibition Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem (2019-2020). Other collaborative and group exhibitions include the Drawing Center (2014), the Brooklyn Museum (2014), and the New Museum of Contemporary Art (2011), among many other venues. In collaboration with Justin Hicks, Jemison performs as Mikrokosmos. Mikrokosmos performances have been presented by Western Front, Nottingham Contemporary, MASS MoCA, festival steirischer herbst, and other venues.