Intisar Abioto
b. 1986, Memphis, TN
Based in Portland OR
intisarabioto.com & studioabioto.com
iabioto@gmail.com
Education
2008 Bachelor of Arts, Dance, Wesleyan University
2004-05 Bachelor of Arts Candidate, Dance & English, Spelman College
Select Solo Exhibitions
2022
Black Domain, Architectural Heritage Society, Portland OR
And The Black Rainbows When, Chehalem Cultural Center, Newberg OR
2019
Black Legend, Black, Oregon, Office of The Governor, Oregon State Capitol, Salem OR
An Altar to Alter, Portland In Color, Portland Art Museum, Portland OR
2017 Black Portlanders, Black Portlands, Littman Gallery, Portland State University, Portland OR
2015 Contents, Duplex Gallery, Portland OR
2009 The People Could Fly, Zilkha Gallery, Wesleyan University, Middletown CT
Select Group Exhibitions
2022
Unceded Kinship: Land, Place, and People, University of Oregon Knight Library, Eugene OR
2021
Culture+Trauma, Gallery 114, Portland OR
Examining The American Dream, Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle WA
2020
Spirit Women: Adriene Cruz & Intisar Abioto, Oregon State University, Corvallis OR
Babesis, Aunts Ten, Miss W, Miss Choomby & Our Company, Forest for the Trees, PDX
Antidote: “blk nw/s: black news: black northwests,” Nat Turner Project & C3 Initiative, Portland OR
Passages in the Black Diaspora, Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle WA
2019
In Between: Hank Willis Thomas & Intisar Abioto, Public Art Installation, Portland OR/Seattle WA
Visual Meditations on Black Masculinity, African American Museum in Philadelphia PA
Brown Sugar: Where We At, Tips on Failing, Portland OR
2018
Resistance, Multnomah County Public Library, Portland OR
Elements of Reclamation, Ori Gallery, Portland OR
Select Performance
2022 Opacity of Performance, Portland Art Museum, Portland OR
2019
Sugar Lee / Brown Sugar: Where We At, Tips on Failing, Portland OR
Black Artists at the Capitol, Office of The Governor, Oregon State Capitol, Salem OR
2016
In Response to Fujikasa Satoko’s Flow #1, Portland Art Museum
A Reading, Poetry Press Week. Disjecta Contemporary Art Center, Portland OR
Projects
2020 Yanga York, Transmedia Photo Installation & Diaspora Web Work, yanga-york.com
2015 The Black, 2015-Present
2013 The Black Portlanders, Photo-based Exploratory Work, 2013-Present, theblackportlanders.com
2007 The People Could Fly Project, Collaborative Transmedia Work, 2007-2009
Curation
2022 [thank you, Black Materials], Western Oregon University, Monmouth OR
2023 Black Artists of Oregon, Portland Art Museum, Portland OR .. forthcoming
Presentations
2019 Mfon: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora, Photoville, Annenberg Space for Photography, Los Angeles CA
2018 “Lisa Myers Bulmash & Intisar Abioto,” Northwest African American Museum, Seattle WA
2016 “My Creative Lens,” TEDx Portland
Publication
2019 Black Mark, Black Legend: Uncovering the Lineage of Black Artists in Portland,
Oregon Humanities Magazine, Spring 2019
2017 MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora, Contributing Photographer
2016 Black Portlands, Travel Portland
2015 State of Black Oregon 2015, Lead Photographer, Urban League of Portland
Awards & Grants
2022
Institute for Museum & Library Sciences, Museums for America: Portland Art Museum, Black Artists of Oregon
Meyer Memorial Trust, Justice Oregon for Black Lives, Black Art/ists Gathering
2021
Oregon Community Foundation, Creative Heights, Black Art/ists Gathering
Black Equity Movement, Collins Foundation, Black Art/ists Gathering
Artist Fund III Award, Portland Art Museum, Portland OR
2020
Lilla Jewel Award for Womxn Artists, Mckenzie River Foundation, Portland OR
RACC Project Grant, Architectural Heritage Center, Black Domain, Portland OR
Golden Spot Residency, Caldera Arts & Hallie Ford Foundation, Sisters OR
2019: Multnomah County Courthouse Percent for Art Commission, Regional Arts & Culture Council
Portland OR
2018: Emerging Journalists, Community Stories Fellowship, Oregon Humanities, Portland OR
Select Press:
1859 Magazine: History, Dreams, Identity: Intisar Abioto brings Black Oregonians into the Foreground
Oregon Arts Watch: Intisar Abioto - Black Art/ists Gathering
Rolling Stone: Youth Organizers: The Photographers Behind the Movement
Willamette Week: Photographer Intisar Abioto Has Added “Muralist” to Her Résumé With a Work That Pays Tribute to Black Women and Girls
New York Times: Black Artists Find Ways to Make Their Voices Heard in Portland
Willamette Week: Photography Exhibit “Black Portlanders, Black Portlands” Attempts To Condense Five Years of Lives and Legacies Into A Single Room
New York Times: The World According to Black Women Photographers
Portland Mercury: Infinite Black Portlands
Portland Mercury: In The Black, Intisar Abioto Documents Community, Connection, Place
The Fader: 5 Artists Explain Why It’s Time To Connect With Portland’s Black History
CNN’s United Shades of America with Kamau Bell: Season 1: Portland
1859 Magazine: The Woman Behind The Black Portlanders Project
Willamette Week: Intisar Abioto, Photographer and Founder of the Black Portlanders, Talks Portland
The Oregonian: Black Portlanders Blogger seeking $15,000 to expand work documenting African Americans
BET: The Black Portlanders Project: Illuminating a Vibrant Community
OPB: Photographer Intisar Abioto Approaches 'The Black Portlanders' By The Numbers
Al Jazeera America: Being Black In Portland