EDUCATION
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY
Independent Study Program Studio Participant, 2015-2016

Wesleyan University, Middletown CT
Bachelor of Arts with Honors in African American Studies,
concentration in Music and Visual Arts, 2010

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 to reverberate tenderly, Queens Museum, Corona NY
2022 resonant frequencies, blossoming tones, Hesse Flatow, New York NY
2018 Refusal to Coalesce, Rubber Factory, New York NY
Sound Gestures, International Studio & Curatorial Program Project Space, Brooklyn NY
2017 a score to keep time / a score to lose time / but never yourself, in it, Sadie Halie Projects, Minneapolis MN
2015 SETPIECE, Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, Staten Island NY
…to collect dreams again, The Table, Phoenix AZ
2014 Sonia Louise Davis: selections, Rush Arts’ Corridor Gallery, Brooklyn NY
2012 tracing(s) belonging(s), En Foco at Aguilar Library/NYPL, New York NY

PERFORMANCES
2024 performance for sounders, with Rena Anakwe, Sarah Galdes, and Sugar Vendil, Queens Museum, Corona NY
2018 you know we got to find a way, International Studio & Curatorial Program, Brooklyn NY
2017 return to your breath (did it ever leave you?), Sadie Halie Projects, Minneapolis MN
Can We Touch the Sun From Here? duet with iris yirei hu, Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York NY
2016 shake the stars with your song, in collaboration with Tamara Renée, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY
|a't(y)ood| Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts Project Space, New York NY

SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 Pass Carry Hold: Studio Museum Artists in Residence 2023-24, MoMA PS1, Long Island City NY
2023 Uptown Triennial, Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York NY
2021 Sonia Louise Davis Selects, Foundation for Contemporary Arts at Greene Naftali, New York NY
Land Chapters, presented by Artist Field, Richmond VT
2020 sense n’ react to the drop, Ochi Projects, Los Angeles (online)
Re-Tooling, presented by Culture Push, Clemente Soto Velez Center, New York NY
Migrations and Meaning(s) in Art, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore MD
2019 Sower, Rubber Factory, New York NY
Mutant Dust Bunnies, Roots & Culture Contemporary Arts Center, Chicago IL
The Poetics of Relation, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, Chicago IL
Close Afar, DFBRL8R Gallery, Chicago IL
2018 Adam McEwen Selects, Foundation for Contemporary Arts at Gladstone Gallery, New York NY
Spine, Ortega y Gasset Projects, Brooklyn NY
In, Of and Crossing Essex, Cuchifritos Gallery + Project Space, New York NY
Leaps and Bounds, curated by CCS Bard, International Studio & Curatorial Program Project Space, Brooklyn NY
2017 stutter, Visitor Welcome Center, Los Angeles CA
Round 46: Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter, Project Row Houses, Houston TX
2016 Whitney Independent Study Program Exhibition, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts Project Space, New York NY
2015 Signified Space(s), Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership, Brooklyn NY
2014 If You Build It, presented by No Longer Empty, Broadway Housing Communities, New York NY
If We Came From Nowhere Here, Why Can’t We Go Somewhere There? Vivid Solutions Gallery, Washington DC
Social in Practice: The Art of Collaboration, Nathan Cummings Foundation, New York NY
2013 NLE Curatorial Lab: Through the Parlor, presented by No Longer Empty, 24 Rutgers Street, New York NY
The Photographic Self, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago IL
Bronx Calling: The Second AIM Biennial, The Bronx Museum of the Arts/Wave Hill/1285 Avenue of the Americas Gallery, New York NY
2012 HOME, Casita Maria Center for Arts and Education, Bronx NY
Global Positioning System (So You Say You Want a Revolution) Westside Gallery, New York NY
CPT: Time, History and Memory, Gallatin Galleries, New York NY
2011 GET IT ON THE RECORD, Flatbush Library/BPL, Brooklyn NY

AWARDS, RESIDENCIES & FELLOWSHIPS
2023 Artist in Residence, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York NY
2022 QM Jerome Foundation Emerging Artist Fellow, Queens Museum, Corona NY
Artist in Residence, Stoneleaf Retreat, Catskills NY
2021 SIP Fellow, EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, New York NY
2020 Right Now! Publication Award, Women’s Studio Workshop, Rosendale NY
Visiting Artist, Harvestworks, New York NY
Workspace Artist in Residence, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC), New York NY
2019 Spring Visual Arts Fellowship, Civitella Ranieri Foundation, Umbertide Italy
2018 Residency Fellowship, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson VT
Invited Artist, Respite with Xaviera Simmons, Denniston Hill, Glen Wild NY
Fellowship for Utopian Practice, Culture Push, New York NY
New York Community Trust Van Lier Artist in Residence, International Studio & Curatorial Program, Brooklyn NY
2017 Emergency Grant Recipient, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New York NY
ACRE Artist in Residence, Artists’ Cooperative Residency and Exhibitions, Steuben WI
Associate Artist, #166: Jennifer Monson & Zeena Parkins, Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, FL
2015 WOODSTOCK A-I-R Artist in Residence, Center for Photography at Woodstock (CPW), Woodstock NY
Snug Harbor Artist in Residence (SHARP) Participant, Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanic Garden, Staten Island NY
2014 New York Emerging Artist Grant Nominee, Rema Hort Mann Foundation, New York NY
Emergency Grant Recipient, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New York NY
LOOKbetween 2014 Participant, LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph, Charlottesville VA
Photography Expanded Lab: Collaborative Images Participant, Magnum Foundation, New York NY
Process Space Resident, Paths to Pier 42 Commissioned Artist, LMCC, New York NY
2013 Artist in the Marketplace (AIM) Program Participant, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx NY
Manhattan Community Arts Fund Grant Recipient, LMCC, New York NY
2012 Residency Unlimited Artist in Residence, Casita Maria Center for Arts and Education, Bronx NY
Grant Recipient, Puffin Foundation Ltd, Teaneck NJ
Wonder Women Resident, _gaia studio, Jersey City NJ
2011 Create Change Professional Development Fellowship, Merit Scholarship, The Laundromat Project, New York NY
2010 Summer Residency: Photography, School of Visual Arts, New York NY
African American Studies Department Vanguard Prize, Wesleyan University, Middletown CT
2009 Wesleyan Black Alumni Council Memorial Prize, Wesleyan University, Middletown CT

ARTIST TALKS & READINGS
2023 Artists on Artists: sonia louise davis, David L. Johnson, and Shamel Pitts on Smokehouse Associates, presented by the Studio Museum in Harlem at Harlem Art Park, New York NY
Visiting Artist Talk, Lower East Side Girls Club, New York NY
2022 NY book launch and reading, CARA (Center for Art, Research and Alliances), New York NY
If improvisation could serve as a manual, if gesture could serve as a guide, organized by Nomaduma Rosa Masilela and Thiago de Paula Souza, Artists Space, New York NY
Visiting Artist Lecture, Feminist Poetics, Prof. Andrea Quaid, Cal Arts, Valencia CA
Visiting Artist Lecture, Foundations, Prof. Cati Bestard, Smith College, Northampton MA
2021 Visiting Artist Lecture, African American Art: Exhibiting Past & Present, Prof. Kristin Juarez, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles CA
2020 Visiting Artist Lecture, Fibrous Kinships, Prof. iris hu, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles CA
Visiting Artist Lecture, MFA Studio Art Program, New York University, New York NY
Visiting Artist Lecture, MFA Art Practice Program, School of Visual Arts, New York NY
2019 Visiting Artist Lecture, Women Artists, Prof. Nancy Heller, University of the Arts, Philadelphia PA
Visiting Artist Lecture, Harlem Convergence, Prof. Shani Peters, City College, New York NY
2018 Quantum Gossip, organized by Colleen Billing, Motel, Brooklyn NY
[slow and soft and righteous], ACRE Projects, Chicago IL
Brooklyn Commons: Suzanne McClelland and Sonia Louise Davis, ISCP, Brooklyn NY
Segue Reading Series, curated by Harry Burke and Precious Okoyomon, Zinc Bar, New York NY
Pecha Kucha with ISCP Residents, Hauser & Wirth Bookshop, New York NY
2017 Feminism's Practical Past, Roundtable Discussion with Mary Kelly, Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York NY
Photography Expanded Symposium, Magnum Foundation, New York NY
2015 Art and Social Practice: A Conversation, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, New York NY
Featured Artist Speaker, Manhattan Community Arts Breakfast, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York NY
2014 Social in Practice Panel Discussion, Nathan Cummings Foundation, New York NY
Sonia Louise Davis, Qiana Mestrich and Renee Cox, Rush Arts’ Corridor Gallery, Brooklyn NY
2013 NLE Lab Artist Talk: Sonia Louise Davis, Heather Hart and Betty Yu, 24 Rutgers Street, New York NY
SPOOK Magazine Issue 3 Panel, Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, Brooklyn NY
The Finding Aid: Black Women at the Intersection of Art & Archiving, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York NY
2012 Residency Unlimited Artist Talk, with Kalia Brooks, Shlomit Dror and Kameelah Rasheed, Brooklyn NY
En Foco Touring Gallery Artist Talk, Aguilar Library/NYPL, New York NY
A Cut Above, Visiting Artist Talk, Harlem Children’s Zone, National Black Theater, New York NY
Be The Art, Alumni Artist Talk, Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery, Wesleyan University, Middletown CT
 

PUBLICATIONS
to reverberate tenderly, two color double-sided risograph takeaway, 2023
resonant frequencies, blossoming tones, full color saddle-stitch booklet with essay by Kristin Juarez PhD, published by Hesse Flatow, 2022
slow and soft and righteous, improvising at the end of the world (and how we make a new one), perfect-bound risograph book, published by Co—Conspirator Press, 2021
we must be very strong/and love each other/in order to go on living, digital commission, poetic essay with audio, The Laundromat Project, 2020 - link | accordion-folded poster/object, Women’s Studio Workshop, 2021 - link
Trust. Improvisation. Exchange. duet with Greta Hartenstein, self-published limited edition off-set poster, 2018
a score to keep time / a score to lose time / but never yourself, in it, self-published artist text with curator statement, 2017
Scatting, Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory, volume 27 issue 1, 2017
shake the stars with your song, newsprint poster with commissioned artist text, Whitney Museum of American Art, 2016
a lost symbolism begins to collect dreams again, handmade artist book, 21 plates, ed. 10, 2015

PRESS
Olsen, Annikka. “These 5 Artists Are Redefining New York’s Art Scene,” artnet, February 14, 2024 - link
Kelly, Brian P. “Emilie L. Gossiaux and sonia louise davis Reviews: Sensory Experiences at the Queens Museum,” The Wall Street Journal, January 5, 2024 - link
Bansinath, Bindu. “A Soft New World: Inside sonia louise davis’s Queens Museum studio, large-scale textiles radiate warmth,” The Cut, December 8, 2023 - link
Marius, Marley. “At the Foundation for Contemporary Arts’s Latest Benefit Exhibition, 106 Artists Unite for a Common Cause,” Vogue, December 10, 2021 - link
Platform Art Editorial Feature, winter 2021, “The Foundation for Contemporary Arts: A conversation between artists Sonia Louise Davis and James Welling on the organization’s support for artists.” - link
Maake Magazine Artist Spotlight, Issue 11, 2020, with online interview by Nancy Kim - link
Dambrot, Shana Nys. “Art Pick: Sense N’ React to the Drop at Ochi Projects,” LA Weekly, July 23, 2020 - link
“Sonia Louise Davis at Rubber Factory, New York,” ARTnews, Pictures at an Exhibition, August 15, 2018 - link
Almino, Elisa Wouk. “How Artists Can Support Small Businesses,” Hyperallergic, June 5, 2018 - link
Litvak, Ed. “Exhibition Opening Friday Explores Essex Street Market’s Histories Before the Big Move,” The Lo Down, April 26, 2018 - link
Carney, Sean J. Patrick. “Q&A with Sadie Halie Projects of Minneapolis, MN,” Humor and the Abject, November 2, 2017 - link
Kim, Hyunjee Nicole. “stutter,” Art Practical, October 17, 2017 - link
Wagley, Catherine. “5 Free Art Shows to See in L.A. This Week,” L.A. Weekly, October 4, 2017 - link
Carney, Sean J. Patrick. “5 Worthy Artist-Run Spaces That Have Learned to Thrive Outside of Art-Market Capitals,” artnetNews, August 30, 2017 - link
Embuscado, Rain. “Editor’s Picks: 9 Art Events to See in New York This Week,” artnetNews, May 16, 2016 - link
Strandquist, Mark. “‘Picturing Us…’ Sonia Louise Davis, Community Photography and the Experienced Moment,” Photography as a Social Practice, July 28, 2014 - link
Dawson, Jessica. “No Longer Empty’s ‘If You Build It’ Opens At Harlem’s Sugar Hill,” The Wall Street Journal, June 25, 2014 - link
Brook, Pete. “Exhibition Review: ‘Social Practice: The Art of Collaboration,’” Prison Photography, June 18, 2014 - link
Frank, Priscilla. “Artists Transform Old Chinatown Beauty Parlor Into A Creative Playground,” Huffington Post, December 5, 2013 - link