Artist Bio

Kassamira Carter-Howard (she/her) is a black queer multi-disciplinary artist residing in Washington, DC by way of Portland, OR. Her work has exhibited in group shows in North Carolina, Washington, DC, and Maryland, including Dupont Underground, Eaton DC, Art of Noize, Arts Council of Fayetteville, and the Raunjiba Design Center. She has also led and facilitated interactive art spaces that invite spectators to move beyond gazing to physically and mentally engage with the artwork. She enjoys visioning black people in thriving spaces and seeks out mediums like watercolor, acrylic, collage, and photography to best bring that vision to life. She graduated magna cum laude from Santa Clara University with a B.S. in Political Science and Ethnic Studies with a minor in Gender Studies. 

Artist Statement

Kassamira is a creative, visionary, healer, and facilitator deeply committed to building a world where all black people are thriving and free. Rooted in black feminist theories and afrofuturist & afropresentist praxes, she accesses different mediums, including acrylic, watercolor, and textiles to dream up new worlds. Kassamira combines her creative art practice with facilitation and ritual to conjure freedom portals, creating trauma-informed, survivor-centered healing spaces that invite conversation around the artwork and the complex topics it represents. She is inspired by concepts of play, black joy, and the nonlinear experience of healing one’s self. This is reflected through her use of bold, vibrant color palettes and the positioning of black bodies as subjects rather than objects to be consumed. Her work seeks to articulate the various stages of one’s healing journey and the radical transformation we seek in ourselves and our communities. 

Curriculum Vitae

Selected Exhibitions

2022

  • “The Gender Within: The Art of Identity,” Dupont Underground x Washington Blade, Washington, DC

  • “The Gender Within: the Art of Identity,” Eaton DC, Dupont Underground, Washington Blade, Washington DC

  • “Vanguard Social: Visions of Queer Resistance,” Southern Equality Studios x Fayetteville Arts Council, Fayetteville, North Carolina

  • “A Diamond in the Rough” Fundraiser Exhibition and Auction, Raunjiba Design Center x LPD Studio x Midtown Academy, Baltimore, Maryland 

2019 

  • “Are you Free In America?” Interactive Exhibition and Facilitated Conversation, Petworth Arts Collaborative x DMV Art of Noize, Washington, DC

Selected Publications

2023

2022

2021

2019

Residencies

Media Interview

Commissions