Land of the thief
2022
Bethany Collins
Chicago, Illinois
Artworks shown are selected from works submitted by the artist in their grant or residency application. All works are copyright of the artist or artist’s estate.
About Bethany Collins
Bethany Collins (b. 1984 Montgomery, AL) is a multidisciplinary artist whose conceptually driven work is fueled by a critical exploration of how race and language interact. Collins received her BA in Studio Art and Photojournalism from the University of Alabama in 2007, and her MFA from Georgia State University in 2012. She was the 2013-2014 Artist-in-Residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem, and 2019 Public Humanities Practitioner-in-Residence at Davidson College in Davidson, NC. Collins was awarded the Hudgens Prize in 2015 and Efroymson Contemporary Arts Fellowship in 2018. Upcoming and recent solo museum exhibitions include presentations at the Frist Museum (Nashville, TN), Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts (Montgomery, AL), CAM St. Louis, The University of Kentucky Art Museum (Lexington, KY), and the Art Institute of Chicago. Collins currently lives and works in Chicago and is an Assistant Instructional Professor in the department of visual arts at the University of Chicago.
Program Participation
Joan Mitchell Fellowship, 2022
Website / Social Links
Language is both the subject and primary material of my practice—from court documents and national anthems to newspaper archives and outdated dictionaries. Language is also a prism through which to explore American history and the nuance of racial and national identities. And struggling with the duality of language—its potential and inevitable failure to make sense of the world—remains the basis for my making.”
