PENUMBRA WORKSPACE PROGRAM | US-Based Artist | 2024
Cali M. banks
Image © Cali Banks. Courtesy of the artist.
“I use Syracuse, NY as my muse.
I began documenting my hometown in November 2022. When I traveled back to places of importance of my “coming of age” years, I realized many places of both solace and nostalgia had been demolished or abandoned. I started to rework this experimental, documentary project with ideas of “teardown towns” and blind tradition.”
Cali M. Banks is a lens-based artist currently based in Syracuse, NY. She holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Media Arts Practices from the University of Colorado Boulder, and a BA in Art and Technology and Global Health Studies from Allegheny College. Cali is the Communications Coordinator for Light Work, and is also an Adjunct Professor of Photography, Video Art and Filmmaking for Syracuse University and Indiana University campuses. Cali is a 2024 En Foco Photography Fellow, and serves on the Board of Directors for The Halide Project.
Banks' artistic practice reclaims identity through auto-ethnographic, experimental photography and filmmaking. Her work explores personal and collective histories, relational intimacies, and the expansion of narrow, flattened definitions of indigenous art. She is interested in the idea of image-making as a time or record-keeper, and being able to manipulate that to recreate memories, history, and methods of healing.
In recent times, she has exhibited work during Art Basel Miami and Every Woman Biennial London, and other notable venues such as Smack Mellon, RedLine Contemporary Art Center, Tiger Strikes Asteroid Philadelphia, Atlanta Film Festival, and Anthology Film Archives, including an upcoming solo exhibition at the Everson Museum of Art. Her work has also been published on Lomography, Lenscratch, and Rolling Stone France.
SPONSORS
This program is supported by Henry Nias Foundation, Joy of Giving Something, The Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation, and Roz Leibowitz.
