Sarah Biscarra-Dilley
American artist, author, curator (born 1986)
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Sarah Biscarra Dilley (born 1986)[1] is a Native American interdisciplinary artist, curator, and writer from the yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini Northern Chumash Tribe.[2] Much of Biscarra-Dilley's work brings focus to sexuality and gender identity, as well as racial and cultural marginalization.[3] These themes can be found throughout all of her work, whether it be in isolation or concurrently. Her works focus on the resiliency, self-determination, and sovereignty of Indigenous populations through the collaboration and shared experiences between communities, specifically within nitspu tiłhin ktitʸu, the State of California.[2]
San Francisco Art Institute
University of California, Davis
Sarah Biscarra Dilley | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1986 (age 39–40) California, U.S. |
| Education | Institute of American Indian Arts San Francisco Art Institute University of California, Davis |
| Occupations | Artist, curator, writer |
| Known for | Visual art |
| Website | sarahbiscarradilley |
Biscarra Dilley is known for her artwork within the collective art group, Black Salt Collective.[4]
Early life and education
Sarah Biscarra Dilley was born in 1986 in the Central Valley in California.[5] She belongs to the yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini Northern Chumash Tribe.[2] She lived in Oakland, California area.[2]
She was a high school dropout.[5][6] Biscarra-Dilley attended the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA).[6] She later went on to obtain a B.A. degree in Urban Studies at the San Francisco Art Institute in 2015.[5] In 2018, Biscarra-Dilley earned both an M.A. and PhD in Native American Studies from University of California, Davis.[2][7]
Career
Biscarra Dilley is a writer, multidisciplinary artist and language practitioner relating nitspu tiłhinktitʸu [San Luis Obispo + southern Monterey Counties, California, U.S.A.] and places joined by shared water. Their written and visual texts connect extraction and enclosure while emphasizing movement, relational landscapes and enduring presence. [8] Biscarra-Dilley's connection to the LGBTQ+ community is shown in her participation in projects such as the group exhibit at the Toronto Free Gallery called the Emnowaangosjig – Coming Out: The Shifting and Multiple Self [9] and the National Queer Arts Festival for numerous years.[5]
Working through a multidisciplinary process, their writing centers California Native endurance while naming "the missions as the first carceral spaces in what is now California" and the re-integration of what they note as the "three most central sites of knowing" in their tribal community as relationships to land, extended kinships, and embodiment [10] Their dissertation is currently being adapted to a book. They work alongside their family with tʔɨnɨsmuʔ tiłhinktitʸu, the Northern Chumash or "Obispeño" language, and serve on their tribe's core language team.[10]
Biscarra Dilley often uses "cut paper, archival material, handwork, language, thread, found objects and various natural materials" within her artwork.[11]
She completed various artist-in-residence programs such as the Art Writer's Tiny Residency in Portland, Oregon; the Indigenous Art Journal at the Banff Centre for Arts in Banff, Canada; and Creativity, Carrizozo Colony, Carrizozo, New Mexico, as well as multiple others.[12] Biscarra-Dilley has been awarded numerous grants and funds for her work such as the Alternative Exposure grant (2013), the Point Foundation Scholarship (2012–2014), and the Art Matters Foundation grant (2016–2017).[12]
Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane in 2018 invited Biscarra Dilley, among four other Indigenous curators including Leuli Luna'i Eshraghi, Freja Carmichael, Tarah Hogue, and Lana Lopesi, "to develop [The Commute] a series of exhibitions and programs in collaboration with indigenous artists."[7][13]
The Facebook, Inc. headquarters in Menlo Park, California features mural work in a dining hall by Sarah Biscarra-Dilley and the Black Salt Collective.[when?][14]
Exhibitions
Biscarra-Dilley has created several pieces with different mediums, has participated in many curatorial projects and exhibits, and has written for various publications.
- 2010: Ramona, 2007, mixed media. CHRONOTOPIA, SOMArts, San Francisco, California.[15][16]
- 2016: CHRONOTOPIA: The Past, Present and Future of Queer Histories, SOMArts, San Francisco, California.[17]
- 2016: sup, sup, sup, sup (land, ground, year, dirt). Part of the Visions into Infinite Archives exhibit, curated by Black Salt Collective, SOMArts, San Francisco, California.[18][19]
- 2018: tʸiptukɨłhɨwatʸiptutʸɨʔnɨ, video collage (still). Part of The Ethical Etherealness of Fuck and Love exhibit in La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.