Biography

b. 1979 Middletown, CT USA Naima Lowe comes from a long line of Black people who make things. She’s got parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents who are musicians, fashion designers, teachers, waitresses, and farm laborers. She’s steeped in a lineage of Black cultural production characterized by alchemic survival strategies known as collaboration and improvisation. Naima has exhibited videos, performances, and installations at Anthology Film Archive, Wing Luke Museum, MiX Experimental Film Festival, Jack Straw Cultural Center, Judson Church, and Seattle Contemporary Arts. Her B.A. is from Brown University, MFA from Temple University and she’s been an artist in residence at Millay Colony, Vermont Studio Center and Bemis Center. Statement My video, performance, drawing, sculpture and collaborative projects emerge from a critical core belief: Black cultural production/utterance is expansive, inclusive, collaborative and always about teaching, learning and mentorship across generations. This belief is informed and upheld by my commitment to, love for, and never-ending curiosity about Black people and Black culture. Improvisation, as an embodiment of black ingenuity, creativity, generosity and survival, offers me a vast artistic tool kit and shared vocabulary with artists of many disciplines and backgrounds. As an improviser, I embrace the tensions between structure and spontaneity; tradition and innovation; individuality and collectivism. I am comfortable in the discomfort of not knowing all the answers, and put trust in my audiences to do the same. My artistic output aligns with my values and practices as a teacher, activist and community leader. My work comes from my heart and represents the world that I wish to create and inhabit.