About

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work originates from my inner world, my upbringing, and self-perception. Growing up in a multi-generational household, much of my identity as the eldest and personal experiences of loss, grief, and caregiving have become the focus of my practice. As my identity transitions from caregiving and shifts into where loss and grief have been processed, I contemplate the relationship between physical absence and emotional presence; what stays true within my sense of self through change. My current practice has begun to hint at this question through a more interdisciplinary approach, in which written narrative and visual work inform one another: a back-and-forth process of world-building and character creation that serves as an archetype for a personal mythology, with nature as an emotional landscape.

I create paintings, drawings, sculptures, and installations using a variety of media, primarily inks, acrylics, craft materials, and fibers, where the image dictates the materials used in each piece. Each material reflects the emotional moments of time, memory, and my perception of my inner world and the outside, finding freedom, comfort, beauty, and understanding in both.

BIOGRAPHY

Deyjah Stewart (b. Brooklyn, NY, raised in Spring Hill, Florida) is an artist using a variety of media, primarily inks, acrylics, craft materials, and fibers, to create visual works that inform the stories. Stewart’s practice is process-based and image-based, where the image dictates the materials used in each piece. Each material reflects the emotional moments of time, memory, and her personal experiences. She received her BFA in Studio Art at Texas Woman’s University in Spring 2022. Her studio practice has evolved into an interdisciplinary approach where writing stories and visual work are in dialogue with one another, creating a personal mythology.

In September 2023, Stewart presented a survey exhibition titled Solitude: Harmonious Evolution at Arts Fort Worth. In recent years, Stewart has been included in group exhibitions at Arts Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX (2021-2023); Galesburg Community Arts Center, Galesburg, IL (2023); Patterson Appleton Arts Center in Denton, TX (2021 and 2022); Allegany Arts Council, Cumberland, MD (2022); Rising Star Exhibition, Turner House in North Oak Cliff, Dallas, TX nominated by the Kirk Hopper Gallery and Giovanni Valderas (2022); New Texas Talent XXIX, Craighead Green Gallery, Dallas TX (2022); and 500x Gallery, Dallas, TX (2021). In the spring of 2023, Stewart was the local artist selected by Kinfolk House Collaborative Project Space, founded by Sedrick and Letitia Huckaby, to exhibit and collaborate alongside Miami-based artist Kandy G Lopez and Houston-based fashion designer Isabel Wilson for the show Woven Together. Most recently, Stewart was selected as an awardee of the Clare Hart DeGolyer Memorial Fund (2023) by the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX. She is currently based in Raleigh, North Carolina.