Unseeded Seminal Territory
2023
Utē Petit
New Orleans, Louisiana
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 Utē Petit
Utē Petit (b. 1995, Southfield, MI) is a New Orleans-based artist whose work explores Black-Indigenous land-based traditions and the creation of 'Ailanthaland,' a free Black nation of heavenly beings conceptualized using charcoal and graphite drawings, quilts, installations, farming, and cooking. Utē specializes in textile practices, incorporating woven, quilted, and hand-printed fabrics, along with drawing, painting, and collage. Her practice partners with the Earth, incorporating land stewardship into the process. Utē's ancestry as a quilter, educator, and farmer informs her work, as does her upbringing on farms across the globe. She is currently stewarding her great-grandmother's and three neighbors' lots in New Orleans as part of her quest to rematriate family land stolen by the state of Louisiana. Through her work, Utē seeks to represent a nation divested from white-imposed societal constructs and committed to the self-determination of all beings.
Program Participation
Joan Mitchell Center Residency, 2025
Website / Social Links
Ailantha is a Maroon republic of heavenly beings committed to life. Following the stewardship of displaced African and Indigenous peoples in the western hemisphere, I seek to generate imagery that represents such a land. Such a people.”