Protohaven is thrilled to announce our 2023 BLK ART LAB Residency Cohort. BLK ART LAB was established to provide resources and help advance the creative practice of artists and makers of African descent. Get to know each of the residents below!
Darrin Milliner (he/him) is a self-taught artist, designer, and archivist of printed materials based in Pittsburgh, PA. Milliner is the founder & creative director of Social Living, a lifestyle brand that offers art for a new perspective. Milliner creates objects and images that distort and combine recognizable elements of commercial imagery to highlight the importance of the separate worlds that empower or limit each of us. Milliner’s work has been exhibited throughout Pennsylvania and the United States, including solo and group exhibitions.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dmillz2005/
Website: www.darrinmilliner.com
Evangeline Mensah-Agyekum (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist, designer, and engineer, she is a Ghanaian-American who grew up in Massachusetts and now resides in Pittsburgh, PA. She primarily works with photography, fashion, film, as a self-taught artist, and with interactive objects. Her work explores Blackness, womanhood, and the unique intersections of identity. Evangeline was a runner up for the Cyens Makerspace Residency in Greece and has been part of group exhibitions at Brewhouse Association, Cultural Trust Gallery Crawl, Sweetwater Center for the Arts, and Culture Con. Her work was displayed on a billboard through SaveArtSpace and she was also part of a panel for the Youth Film Fest at the Carnegie Museum of Art. Evangeline graduated from Carnegie Mellon University, where she received a Bachelors of Science from the College of Engineering.
Instagram: @evv.fotos
Website: https://evvma.myportfolio.com/
Jessica Gaynelle Moss (she/her) is an artist, curator, custodian of Black art and creator of platforms and spaces that invest in and support Black artists.
Melding her dedication to making art, supporting artists and developing more equitable and just policies, Jessica’s creative practice and projects transcend any one medium, discipline or field, coalescing fine art with real estate development, institution-building and philanthropy.
Beyond that she runs her own arts consultancy, curates exhibitions and performances, regularly leads art talks and studio critiques, serves on the leadership boards of various cultural entities, and is a frequent speaker on panels on the subjects of artist support, advocacy and stewardship.
Jessica received a bachelor’s in Fine Art from Carnegie Mellon University in 2009; a masters in Arts Administration, Policy and Management from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2015; and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 2018.
Khadijat Yussuff (they/them) is a STEAM educator and self taught immersive transmedia artist whose work centers on reimagining Web 3.0 in the context of indigenous cultures, and aims to marry their Yoruba origins with their love of mixed-reality technology while creating educational opportunities around both. Khadijat’s tactile sculptural work has been shown thus far in Pittsburgh, NYC, Basel, & Portland, and you can find their web-based visual and audio projects at www.khadijat.com.
Petra Floyd (she/they) is a queer first-generation Liberian-American multidisciplinary artist and designer raised by working-class immigrants in Philadelphia, and she lives and works in Pittsburgh. Petra makes whatever she wants, however she wants, ideally making herself laugh throughout the process. Petra values improvised, devised, and collaborative modes of making and thinking. They link up with other instigator-activators to craft small moments and performances using close-at-hand materials and resources. Petra dreams about group movement and gameplay spaces for self-reflection and expansion. They make sounds, videos, drawings, and performances happen, with feeling.
Instagram profile: @wzly_pete
Website: petrafloyd.com
Meet Tye (she/her): chronic sufferer of wanderlust, multi-hyphenate creative, Raja yoga instructor, and lover of all things otherworldly. Her work explores the relationship between play and joy as tools for collective and individual liberation. Having helped access the parts of her humanity that have been mired by anti-blackness, capitalism, and patriarchy, Tye hypothesizes that courageous curiosity and playful experimentation are how we all access the best, and perhaps forgotten, parts of our humanity. The goal: accessing your joy. As a conceptual artist and experiential designer, the Pittsburgh native creates immersive environments and interactive art that illuminates the intricacies of the human experience.
Instagram profile: @badandgooxjy @gooxjy
Website: notyelikethepresent.com
Zoe Grubbs (she/her) is a queer, biracial embroidery and textile artist under her business name, Lost in the Flosss. Zoe resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with her partner and two cats.
Instagram: @lostintheflosss
Website: https://www.lostintheflosss.com