Xaviera Simmons is a contemporary artist whose work challenges societal ideas of race, memory, experience, and history. She works in a variety of media, including photography, performance, video, sound, sculpture, and installation. In 2004, Simmons received a BFA from Bard College. The following year, she completed both the Whitney Museum’s Independent Study Program in Studio Art and a two-year actor-training conservatory with the Maggie Flanigan Studio. From 2019 to 2020, she was a visiting lecturer and Solomon Fellow at Harvard University. Simmons' work has been shown in exhibitions at the MoMA, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Studio Museum in Harlem, National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C., Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, Brooklyn Museum, among others.

Artist Statement