Van Payne (b. 2001) assembles objects to navigate the interstice of mixed-race identity, patriotism and the contradictions birthed by their union. “The American conception of Blackness is to exist in a state of calculation, seeking ways to pacify the past within oneself. I reckon with a chasm that lies between our collective understanding of visibility against representation.” Reckon: to calculate or settle accounts. In her practice, Payne considers the many divisions we inhabit in our everyday lives and works to produce images that reflect her experience of the visual narrative. Here, she settles on how objects, materials and assembled contexts can re-member the history that lives within her.

CV

2023 - School of the Art Institute Chicago (BFA Sculpture w/ Honors)

2022 - Magdalena Abakanowicz Fellow, Mildred’s Lane (Scranton, PA | Narrowsburg, NY)

2020-23 - Smith-Buonanno Scholarship (School of the Art Institute of Chicago)

2019 - Presidential Scholarship (School of the Art Institute of Chicago)

Spring Undergraduate Exhibition - SAIC Galleries (33 E. Washington, Chicago, IL) 2023

Ecotones - Chicago Plants x KIKI & BOUBA Galleries (Chicago, IL) 2023

Everything Could Go - The Mildred Complexity (Narrowsburg, NY) 2022

ARTBASH - Leroy Neiman Center (Chicago, IL) 2020