Antonia Wright was born and lives in Miami, Florida. Wright received an MFA in Poetry from The New School, New York, New York (2005) and trained at the International Center of Photography, New York, New York (2008). Through a multimedia practice of video, performance, photography, sound, light, and sculpture, Wright responds to extremes of emotion, control, and violence in relation to systems of power. The body is a principal element in her work.
She has exhibited in the U.S. and abroad and has been awarded residencies nationally and internationally. Solo exhibitions include “Patria y Vida” at the Faena Hotel in Miami Beach, FL; “I came to see the damage” at Spinello Projects, Miami, Florida (2022), “Not Yet Paved” at Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida (2021), “And so with ends comes beginnings” at UNTITLED, ART Fair (2021), “If I had to Perish Twice” at SPRING/BREAK in New York, New York (2018), “Under the Water Was Sand” at Luis de Jesus Los Angeles, CA (2017), “Double Dutch #7” at The National Gallery of Art in Nassau, Bahamas (2017).
Group exhibitions include “Sinking Feeling” at Or Gallery in Vancouver, Canada (2023), “You Know Who You Are: Recent Acquisitions of Cuban Art from the Jorge M Pérez Collection,” El Espacio 23, Miami, FL (2023), “BETA FISH,” GOOD TO KNOW.FYI (2022), “Are You OK?,” Galerie Ernst Hilger in Vienna (2022); “On the Horizon” at The Frist Art Museum in Nashville, Tennessee (2022), “#fail,” Contemporary Art Center in New Orleans, Louisiana (2022), “Counter-Landscapes”, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Arizona (2019), The Havana Biennial 2019, The Faena Arts Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina; “Count/Recount: Feminist Film and Video” at The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C (2017) and Getty’s Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA (2017) among others.
Her art practice is inextricably linked to her social practice. She serves on the board of the Lotus House shelter in Miami, Florida, Locust Projects and Planned Parenthood, South, East, and North Florida.
Wright recently won the No Vacancy 2022 Juror’s Choice Award, The Ellies Creator Award (2022, 2020), the South Florida Cultural Consortium Award (2019-2020), CINTAS Foundation finalist awarded to artists with Cuban heritage (2019, 2021). Residencies include The Pittsburgh Glass Center, PA, (2022); Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, NY (2015); Leipzig International Art Program, Germany, and Oolite Arts, Miami, FL.
Her work is in the collection of The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, Pérez Art Museum Miami, El Espacio 23, The Bass, The Girls’ Club, and NSU Art Museum. She is represented by Spinello Projects in Miami, FL, and affiliated with Luis De Jesus Gallery Los Angeles, CA.
Wright’s work has been presented in publications including The New York Times, Artforum, Art in America, Hyperallergic, i-D, New York Magazine, Daily News, Miami Herald, El Nuevo Herald, and The Art Newspaper.
CV
EDUCATION
International Center of Photography (ICP), New York, NY, 2008.
The New School, New York, NY, 2005.
Masters in Fine Arts, Creative Writing, Poetry. Thesis: Poetry and Performance Art
University of Montana, Missoula, MT, 2002. Bachelor of Arts, English. Emphasis Creative Writing and Literature
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 Up and Down, Lowe Art Museum, Miami, FL (upcoming).
2022 Patria y Vida, commissioned by No Vacancy, Faena Hotel, Miami Beach, FL
2022 I came to see the damage that was done and the treasures that prevail, Spinello Projects, Miami, FL
2021 And so with ends comes beginnings, UNTITLED, Art Fair, special project, Miami Beach, FL
2021 Not Yet Paved, Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami, FL
2021 Opposition Camp, Art Kiosk, San Francisco, CA
2021 YES/NO, Illuminate, Coral Gables, FL
2020 South Florida Cultural Consortium winners’ exhibition, NSU Art Museum Ft. Lauderdale, FL
2020 MAP, DACRA special project curated by Claire Breukel, Design District, Miami, FL
2020 It is Not Down On Any Map, Spinello Projects, Miami, FL
2019 It is Not Down On Any Map; True Places Never Are, UNTITLED, ART Fair, Miami Beach, FL
2018 America Stands Behind Us, public artwork commission by Fringe Projects, Government Center, Miami, FL
2018 Double Dutch #7: Hot Water, National Gallery of Art (NAGB), Nassau, Bahamas
2018 If I had to Perish Twice, SPRING/BREAK Art Show, New York, NY
2017 CONTROL, Spinello Projects, Miami, FL
2017 Under the Water Was Sand, Then Rocks, Miles of Rocks, Then Fire, Luis de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2016 Under the Water Was Sand, Then Rocks, Miles of Rocks, Then Fire, Locust Projects, Miami, FL
2015 Video: Poems, The Screening Room, Miami, FL
2015 Florida Prize in Contemporary Art, Orlando Museum of Art, FL
2014 Suddenly We Jumped, Luis de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2014 You Make Me Sick: I Love You, Spinello Projects, Miami, FL
2014 Be, Luis De Jesus Los Angeles, CA
2014 Copyright Infringement, Elsewhere Museum, Greensboro, NC
2012 Trading Places II, MOCA, N. Miami, FL
2012 Love on an Escalator, Art and Culture Center, Hollywood, FL
2011 Where All of Your Dreams Come True, Mosquera Collection, Miami, FL
2011 Are You OK?, Spinello Projects, Miami, FL
2010 A Great Disorder is An Order, 777 Gallery, Miami, FL
2009 At The Ventanita, Salon Adelphi VI, Brooklyn, NY
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 Sinking Feeling, Curated by Heather Diack, Or Gallery, Vancouver, Canada (current)
2022 Animation Generation, film and videos from the NSU Art Museum Collection, Ft. Lauderdale, FL (current)
2022 You Know Who You Are: Recent Acquisitions of Cuban Art from the Jorge M Pérez Collection, El Espacio 23, Miami, FL (current)
2022 Rinse and Repeat, The Girl’s Club, Ft. Lauderdale, FL (current)
2022 GOOD TO KNOW.FYI presents BETA FISH at Beaches, Miami Beach, FL
2022 Are You OK?, Galerie Ernst Hilger, Vienna
2022 And so with ends comes beginnings, Luis De Jesus Los Angeles, CA
2022 #fail, Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans, LA
2022 On the Horizon: Contemporary Cuban Art, Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN
2021 Where there is power, curated by Rene Morales, Oolite Arts, Miami Beach, FL
2021 Natural Transcendence, curated by Rhonda Mirtrani, Oolite Arts, Miami Beach, FL
2021 Artists + Identity: Portraiture, Performance, Doppelgangers and Disguise, Art and Culture Center, FL
2020 Infinite Seed, curated by GOOD TO KNOW.FYI + Jess Hodin Levy, Bhumi Farms, NY
2020 Grounded, Spinello Projects, Miami, FL
2019 Counter-Landscapes: Performative Actions from 1970s – now, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, AZ
2019 Faena Festival: The Last Supper, LED Billboard Boat, 34th and Miami Beach, FL
2019 GOOD TO KNOW presents WE BUY GOLD, Mana Contemporary, Miami, FL
2019 The Havana Biennial 2019, Detrás del Muro, curated by Juan Delgado and Luis Enrique Padrón Pérez, Havana, Cuba
2019 Cantos Comunes, Blockhouse, Curated by Diaz Lewis, Havana, Cuba
2019 IKT Miami, ARTiculating Sustainability, Pérez Art Museum (PAMM), Miami, FL
2019 Relational Undercurrents: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Archipelago, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME
2019 I Scream, Therefore I Exist screened at 10 Times Square Billboard (10TS) New York, NY
2018 Relational Undercurrents: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Archipelago, Frost Art Museum, Miami, FL
2018 On Archipelagos and Other Imaginaries–, Creative Time Summit, Miami, FL
2018 La NO Comunidad, CentroCentro, Curated by Blanca de la Torre and Ricardo Ramón Jarne, Madrid, Spain
2018 10,000 Fahrenheit, San Francisco Arts Commission Galleries (SFAC Galleries), San Francisco, CA
2018 Women Who Stand on the Sun, Lotus Village, permanent installation at the homeless shelter facility, Miami, FL
2017 Relational Undercurrents: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Archipelago, Pacific Standard Time, Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA), Long Beach, CA
2017 Count/Recount: Feminist Film and Video, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
2017 On The Horizon: Contemporary Cuban Art from the Jorge M. Pérez Art Collection, Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), Organized by Tobias Ostrander, Miami, FL
2017 Body Language: Figuration in Modern and Contemporary Art, Tucson Museum of Contemporary Art, AZ
2017 The Future Isn’t What It Used To Be, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City, UT
2016 Energy Charge: Connecting to Ana Mendieta, Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, AZ
2016 La suspensión del deseo, Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales, Havana, Cuba
2016 Youniverse, Apexart, New York, NY
2016 Working Worlds, LIA, Curated by Anna-Louise Rolland, Leipzig, Germany
2015 Auto Body, Faena Art Center, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2015 Projector Unicorn, Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, NY
2014 Auto Body, Spinello Projects, Miami, FL
2014 The Remarkable Lightness of Being, Aeroplastics, Brussels, Belgium
2014 Ping Pong, Projektraum M54, Basel, Switzerland
2014 Between You and Me, Vanity Projects, Curated by Grela Orihuela, New York, NY
2014 Plastic(o) Fantastic(o), Central Bank of the Bahamas, Nassau, Bahamas
2013 Suddenly We Jumped, Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, Miami, FL
2013 Deep Water Horizon, Site95, Hillyer Art Space, Washington, D.C.
2012 Inside the Moment, Crane Art Space, Philadelphia, PA
2012 Perfect Lovers, White Box Gallery, New York, NY
2012 New Exhibition, The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, Miami, FL
2011 MOCA Optic Nerve XIII Finalists, The De la Cruz Collection and MOCA, N. Miami, FL
2011 The Martin Hadley Fisher Collection: Syntax, Tampa Museum of Art, FL
2011 Obstacle, The Invisible Dog, Curated by William and Steven Ladd, Brooklyn, NY,
2010 Base Paint, shelters painted by international artists for children in Haiti, L’Athletique d’Haiti, Cite Soleil, Haiti
2010 Heart Happening, The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, Miami, FL
2009 I’m Starting to Realize Sleep is a Metaphor for Everything, Sleepless Nights Art Festival, Miami Beach, FL
2009 Hope Blossoms, The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, Miami, FL
2009 The Nature of Things, The Cisneros Foundation, Miami, FL
2008 The Art Under the Bridge Festival, D.U.M.B.O. Art Center, Brooklyn, NY
2008 You Make Me Sick, Envoy Gallery, New York, NY
2008 Slideluck Potshow XII, McCarren Park Pool, Brooklyn, NY
2008 Reflect, International Center of Photography Gallery, New York, NY
AWARDS
2022 Winners, Antonia Wright and Ruben Millares, No Vacancy Juror’s Choice Award, Public artwork, Faena Hotel, Art Basel/Miami Art Week
2022 Winner, The Ellies Creator Award, Oolite Arts
2022 Miami Individual Artist (MIA) Stipend Award, Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs
2021 CINTAS Foundation Fellowship finalist awarded to artists of Cuban heritage
2020 Winner, The Ellies Creator Award, Oolite Arts
2020 Winner, 2020 South Florida Cultural Consortium Grant
2019 CINTAS Foundation Fellowship finalist awarded to artists of Cuban heritage
2019 Oolite Arts Direct Support For Artists Grant
2018 Wavemaker Grant Recipient Award
2017 Best Artist of 2017, The Miami New Times
2017 Winner, Village Voice Media, MasterMind Genius Grant
2016 Ernst & Young Artist Award, Grant, Leipzig, Germany
2015 Dialogues in Cuban Art, Grant, Havana, Cuba, Miami, FL
2015 Finalist, Florida Prize in Contemporary Art, Orlando Museum of Art, FL
2012 MOCA Optic Nerve XIII Finalist, MOCA, N. Miami, FL
COMMISSIONS
2022 Patria y Vida, commissioned by No Vacancy, Faena Hotel, Miami Beach, FL
2021 MAP, #fail, Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans, LA
2021 Opposition Camp, Art Kiosk, San Francisco, CA
2021 YES/NO, Illuminate Coral Gables, FL
2020 MAP, DACRA site-specific project curated by Claire Breukel, Design District, Miami, FL
2016 Locust Projects Open Call for Artist’s Exhibition Proposals, Miami, FL
2014 Vizcaya Museum and Gardens Contemporary Art Commission, Miami, FL
RESIDENCIES
2022 The Pittsburgh Glass Center, Pittsburgh, PA
2018-2013 Plastic(o) Fantastic(o), New Providence, Bahamas, International artist collective and residency in which Wright is a founding member.
2016 Leipzig International Art Program, Leipzig, Germany
2015 Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, NY
2012 Elsewhere, Greensboro, NC
2010 ArtCenter South Florida, Residency, Miami Beach, FL
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
MIAMI BEACH ARTS AND CULTURE, No Vacancy Winner of Juror’s Choice Award: Antonia Wright & Ruben Millares, Patria y Vida, December 2022.
Portal, Pedro. Take a look at the ‘Patria y Vida’ installation by Antonia Wright and Rubén Millares at Faena, The Miami Herald, December 1, 2022.
In Pictures: See the Fun Public Art Adorning Miami Beach’s Top Hotels—and Vote on Which One Takes a $10,000 Prize, Artnet, News, November 30, 2022.
Turner, Elisa. “At Spinello Projects, Antonia Wright Pushes Back Against Abortion Ban”, October 2022.
Antonia Wright’s Miami Solo Exhibition Lays Bare the Reproductive Rights Crisis, A Woman’s Thing, October 2022.
Moreno, Sarah, “An art project to donate to Cubans on the island,” El Nuevo Herald, January 2022.
Wood, Falyn, “Six must-see public art installations of Art Basel 2021: Antonia Wright,” TimeOut, 2021.
Yerebakan, Osman, “Art Spills Outside Booths and Taps Into Politics,” UNTITLED, ART, December 8, 2019.
“When Flying the Flag causes Consternation,” The Art Newspaper, December 4, 2019.
Sanfillippo, Amanda, ‘Creative Times Summit will explore art’s ability to transform our world.’ Miami Herald, November 1, 2018.
Morrissey, Siobhan. “This Artwork Will Make You Feel out of Control. That’s the Idea.” Miami Herald, December 4, 2017.
Morgenstern, Hans. “Antonia Wright’s Control is so Intense, Waivers have to be signed.” Miami New Times, December 4, 2017.
Cohen, Alina. Your Must-See Art Guide to Art Basel Miami Beach “Beware flying barricades at Little Haiti’s Spinello, November, 29, 2017.
Projects, where local artist Antonia Wright meditates on protest and provocation”. The Observer, November 29, 2017.
Best of Miami, “Best Artist: Antonia Wright,” Miami New Times, June 2017.
“US-Born Cuban- 6 Artists to Watch: Antonia Wright,” Cuban Art News, August 8, 2017.
Mizota, Sharon. “Antonia Wright pulls a disappearing act at Luis De Jesus,” Los Angeles Times, February, 1, 2017.
Mcdermon, Daniel. “Re-enacting a Childhood Trauma on Video. For Art.” The New York Times, September 17, 2016.
Carney, Sean J. Patrick. “First Look.” Art in America, September 2016.
Martin, Lydia. “Multimedia Master Antonia Wright and the Art of Risk,” The Miami Herald, September 17, 2016.
Tosone, Austen. “Artist Antonia Wright on Reclaiming Memory Through Art,” NYLON. September 8, 2016.
Goyanes, Rob. “Poem: Videos at the Screening Room,” Temporary Art Review, July 24, 2015.
Ryzik, Melena. “Art is a Splash, Grand and Tiny, in Miami.” The New York Times, 05 December, 5, 2014.
Patel, Alpesh Kantilal, “Critics’ Picks for Antonia Wright’s You Make Me Sick: I Love You,” ARTFORUM, June 2014.
Granger, Bryan. “Antonia Wright’s You Make Me Sick: I Love You,” DailyServing, April 9, 2015.
Peters, Kate. “The State of the Book: Antonia Wright and Ruben Millares,” The Miami Rail. Fall 2013.
Gottlieb, Shirlie. “Editorial Features: Antonia Wright,” Visual Art Source, June 2012.
Brillson, Leila. “10 Rising Miami Artists to Start Collecting Now,” Refinary29, April 2012.
Yu, Betty. “Using Art To Heal at Lotus House,” 6 NBC Miami, Television, April 2012,
Moskovitz, Diana. “Standing on the sun: Artist profiles homeless women of Miami’s Lotus House,” Miami Herald, Visual Arts, April 2012.
Rosenblum, Emma. “The New Talent Show: Pot-luck Culture,” New York Magazine, January 2009.