Past Resident
Shanna Strauss
As a Tanzanian-American, biracial, bilingual woman, who was raised in Tanzania and later moved to the U.S. and Canada, Shanna Strauss has had to navigate multiple identities, geographic locations, histories and cultures. This reality led her to an interest in diaspora identities and what it means to live between different worlds. In her work, she explores identity and belonging and how oral tradition, spirituality, and family legacy are transmitted inter-generationally, across time and place. Working predominantly on found wood, she creates mixed-media portraits by combining photo transfer, painting, wood burning, wood carving, beads, fabric and other materials — all selected for their symbolic and cultural significance.
Strauss often works with artist Jessica Sabogal, her life and collaborative partner. Essential to their practice is a system of similar core beliefs — feminist, radical, pro-people, and engaged in social change. Their interdisciplinary work implies that collaboration is at the heart of self and community. Both draw inspiration, connection, and influence from contemporary political and social movements, which have always used artistic expression as a critical form of resistance against forces that wage and risk their erasure. For their viewers, Sabogal and Strauss create collective narratives of diaspora rooted in kinship and solidarity. The pair have been commissioned by The California Endowment, the University of California San Francisco, the Euphrat Museum, and the PHI Foundation. Most recently, they received the Kala Art Institute 2020-2021 Fellowship Award.
“I am interested in identity and belonging and the in-between space of diaspora — diaspora as a site where multiple histories, geographies, and identities exist.”
