Sequoia Barnes

Sequoia Barnes is a visiting faculty member at Bard Graduate Center, an advanced graduate research institute in New York City dedicated to the cultural histories of the material world. She specializes in textile art and sculpture, integrating ceramics, pottery, quilting, soft sculpture, stitching, embroidery, installation, and assemblage practices.

• Key affiliations: Fields of the Future Fellow (Spring 2025), Visiting Faculty and Fellows program

Her work foregrounds Black Southern Assemblage and Black radical art practices, utilizing reappropriation strategies through African American folklore and Afro-Surrealism to dismantle racist stereotypes and white supremacist representations of Blackness. Theoretical foundations include Derridean semiotics and deconstruction of the 'other,' with an emphasis on the semiotic deconstruction of Black diasporic representation and the ritualistic processes of art creation.

Barnes' practice merges theory-led exploration with material experimentation, prioritizing the creative process as equally significant as the final object. She engages with post-structuralist frameworks to interrogate systemic oppression through material culture, aligning with Bard Graduate Center's interdisciplinary focus on decorative arts, design history, and material culture.