Aryel René Jackson

Aryel (Ar-y/ee-el) René Jackson (they/them) (born 1991, Louisiana) is a Texas-based artist whose practice consists of what they call “visual essays,” lyrical film works that utilize spoken word, text, soil, performance, animation, and installation sculpture to reflect on critical race theory and archeological studies. When speculating on the past, Jackson considers how visual, tangible, and experiential material data impacts perception. With a background in painting, Jackson has made a career of moving images informed by the techniques and strategies of their mixed media works on panels and canvases.

Jackson is currently based in Austin, Texas, and will be working on an upcoming sci-fi speculative non-fiction as an artist-in-residency at Bemis Center (Fall 2024). They are an alum of The University of Texas at Austin (2019), the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (2019), the Royal College of Art Exchange Program (2018), and The Cooper Union (2013). Their films have screened at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2022); the Baltimore Museum of Art (2021); and The Momentary in collaboration with the Crystal Bridges Museum (2020). Jackson’s work has been exhibited at galleries and institutions such as Artpace, San Antonio (2022); Women & Their Work, Austin (2022); IDEA Lab, Art Gallery at Black Studies at The University of Texas at Austin (2021); Dallas Contemporary (2021); Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Seattle (2021); SculptureCenter, New York (2019); New Museum, New York (2019); Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans (2018); and the Studio Museum in Harlem (2016). In 2021, Jackson was awarded the Tito’s Art Prize and presented We are the [hackers], baby, [hackers] are we in collaboration with colleague Michael J. Love, tap-dancer and choreographer.