curated conversations
Kariyana Calloway-Scott: Excavating Black Femme Narratives
Kariyana Calloway-Scott is an East Coast-based artist-scholar. Her artistic practice centers collage, performance, experimental film, and sculpture. Using theories of interiority, conceptual and black feminist methodologies, her work offers an exploration into the intricacies and external perceptions of black life. Kariyana’s research aims to develop contemporary image/imagery of texts that have explored theories of race, sexuality, gender, and class. Her current work is dedicated to creating material that excavates images of black “femme” archetypes to de-/remystify the insidious nature of black being.
deCypher by Kariyana Calloway-Scott
Q: If you had to sum up your work in three words, what would they be?
A: Confrontational. Clarifying. Living.
Q: What drives your artistic practice?
A: My work is deeply inspired by Black queer life, Black femme inner life, and the complexities of mortality, morality, and desire. I explore themes of introspection, gender, sexuality, sound, and the intersection of spirituality with the corporeal. My influences span Black feminism, the African diaspora, the American South, futurism, pessimism, and the sonic language of Black movement and Blackness itself.
Q: Why did you choose collage as your primary medium?
A: Collage allows me to take accessible, everyday materials—film, images, sound, and found objects—and transform them into something whole. It’s an act of reclamation. Using found materials is a sustainable practice, challenging ideas around “waste” and the moral judgments placed on poor people for holding onto what is deemed “invaluable.”
what goes by Kariyana Calloway-Scott
Q: How has your cultural background shaped your artistic voice?
A: I was raised in community, without the presence of my parents, navigating the world as a poor, fat, queer femme in the American South. I’ve learned how to exist in multiple spaces while refusing to perform for the sake of palatability. That contradiction—being everywhere and belonging nowhere—shapes my work. Some pieces feel unfinished; some are oversized, some minuscule. Every element is intentional, deeply tied to my understanding of visual language, sound, intimacy, and spirituality.
Q: What narratives do you explore through your art?
A: My work exists in tension—it’s about revealing just enough while keeping certain intimacies sacred. I want my subjects to feel seen, heard, and felt, without over-explaining their existence. I never intend for white audiences to fully grasp what’s happening, but I will take their resources as retribution.
deCypher by Kariyana Calloway-Scott
Q: What impact do you hope your art has on viewers?
A: I want people to confront their biases—about class, race, queerness, migration, and identity. If my work makes someone rethink how they engage with marginalized people, then I’ve done what I set out to do.
Q: How does your art reflect the Black experience?
A: My work is Black because I am Black. That truth is embedded in every piece I create.
All images belong to Kariyana Calloway-Scott
