Sondra Perry: Typhoon coming on

This book is published on the occasion of the exhibition "Sondra Perry: Typhoon coming on" (March 6–May 20, 2018) at the Serpentine Galleries, the first solo presentation of the artist's work in Europe. For its presentation at ICA Miami, the exhibition was curated by Alex Gartenfeld, Artistic Director, and Stephanie Seidel, Associate Curator, with Amanda Morgan, Curatorial Assistant.

Artist Sondra Perry (b. 1986) creates narratives that explore the imagining or imaging of blackness throughout history. Often drawing on her own life as a point of departure, she makes works that revolve around black American experiences and the ways in which technology and identities are entangled. Her use of digital tools and platforms such as Chroma key blue screens, 3D avatars, open-source software, and footage found online, reflects critically on representation itself. Perry's investigations demonstrate that digital technology functions as an attribute of power. As the artist says, "I'm interested in how blackness is a technology, changing and adapting, through the constant surveillance and oppression of black folks across the diaspora since the 1600s. Unmediated seeing isn't a thing."