Image of Torkwase Dyson's installation at Desert X. A black semicircular form in a desert landscape. A rectangular void has been created at center and human figure stands in the space.

Torkwase Dyson
Spotlight Artist in Residence
Winter 2025

BIOGRAPHY

Torkwase Dyson describes herself as a painter working across multiple mediums to explore the continuity between ecology, infrastructure, and architecture. She works in  in painting, drawing, and sculpture, and her abstract works examine human geography and the history of Black spatial liberation strategies, often grappling with the ways in which space is perceived, imagined and negotiated particularly by black and brown bodies. Throughout her work and research, Dyson confronts issues of environmental liberation and envisions a path toward a more equitable future. Her work was included in the Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better than the Real Thing, and was the focus of solo exhibitions at ‘T’ Space Rhinebeck, New York, Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, and the New Orleans Museum of Art. 

Dyson studied sociology and social work at Tougaloo College, Mississippi, and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Yale School of Art. 


COURSES TAUGHT

Dyson will be at UC Davis from February 24-28, 2025.


PUBLIC LECTURE

Dyson will give a public lecture on Thursday, February 27 from 4:30 - 6 p.m. at the Manetti Shrem Museum. The talk is free and open to the public. Doors open at 4 p.m.


PHOTOS

Photographs will be available at the conclusion of the residency.

 

Banner photo: Torkwase Dyson, Liquid a Place, Desert X, Palm Desert © Torkwase Dyson. Photo by Lance Gerber, courtesy Desert X.