Sondra Perry

New Jersey

Perry describes herself as preoccupied with ‘technologies, specifically technologies of representation’. In practice this means she works with video, immersive digital installations, performance and computer-based media (such as blue-screen technology and 3D avatars) to highlight how technological tools shape identity, in particular Blackness and Black culture. Recent video projects and installations include A Terrible Thing, a commission for MoCA Cleveland that drew on the history of blacksmithing to examine labour relations at institutions such as museums. An advocate for net neutrality – the belief that online data and users should be treated equally by internet service providers – Perry uses open-source software to edit her work and leases it digitally for use in galleries and classrooms, while also making all her videos available for free online. This year she was awarded the Rolls-Royce Art Programme’s flagship commission to create a new work on the subject of ‘dreams’; the result will be exhibited at the Fondation Beyeler, Basel, and the Serpentine in 2022. She has previously exhibited at the Serpentine as well as the ICA Miami, the Studio Museum in Harlem and a number of other institutions.