Artist Bio
Destiny Arianna (b.1999, New York, New York) is an Afro-Indigenous, multidisciplinary artist and entrepreneur in New York. With a background in oil painting, collage, and photography, her work explores themes of identity, heritage, and beauty. As a proud member of the Chappaquiddick Wampanoag tribe, Destiny's Indigenous heritage plays a significant role in her art. Arianna graduated from Bowdoin College with a degree in Africana Studies, Visual Art, and Art History. Her experiences ignited her passion for art in the lack of representation of Black figures in the teaching of her undergraduate studio art courses. She struggled to capture her skin and hair in figurative art, and when she asked for help, she was met with unsatisfactory suggestions. This led her to self-teach focusing on Black and Indigenous figures. Destiny's works have been featured in galleries and exhibitions throughout the city of Poughkeepsie and her debut solo exhibition, Beauty in Remembrance (2022), on Noepe (Martha’s Vineyard).
Arianna continues to focus on depictions of her identity in art. Arianna has used painting, photography, and collage to embrace her Black and Indigenous identity, with a focus on land, lineage, and language. Her works address her racial and cultural identities' hypervisibility, visibility, and invisibility. Arianna engages the deeply rooted connection between the rich culture she was immersed in growing up and its relation to the violent history of her ancestry to reconstruct and amplify a narrative of beauty, resilience, and survival in her work.
Solo Exhibitions
2022
Beauty in Remembrance, Oak Bluffs Public Library, Oak Bluffs, MA
Group Exhibitions
2023
quiet as its kept, Trolley Barn Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY
Open To Love, Reason and Rukus, Poughkeepsie, NY
2022
Your Wildest Dreams, Reason and Rukus, Poughkeepsie, NY
Open To Love, Reason and Rukus, Poughkeepsie, NY
Emerging, Women's Work Art, Poughkeepsie, NY
High Contrast, Trolley Barn Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY
2021
Visual Arts Virtual Open House, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
Delta Sigma/Delta Upsilon 2nd Annual Art Show, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
2020
RPAC Gallery, Ridgefield, CT
Visual Arts Virtual Open House, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
2019
Visual Arts Open House, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
2018
Visual Arts Open House, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
AND SHE’S A BLACK WOMAN, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
Education
2017-2021
Bachelor of Arts in Africana Studies, Art History, and Visual Arts Bowdoin College, Brunswick ME
Awards
2023
Youth Jurors Award, “quiet as its kept”, Trolley Barn Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY
2022
Jurors Award, High Contrast, Trolley Barn Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY
2021
The Richard P. Martel Jr. Memorial Prize in Visual Arts, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
Publications
2022
Power and pride on exhibit in Destiny Arianna’s ‘Beauty in Remembrance’: Martha’s Vineyard Times
https://www.mvtimes.com/2022/07/19/power-pride-exhibit-destiny-ariannas-beauty-remembrance/
2021
Skin Deep Analyzing Black Representation in the Teaching of Visual Arts: Senior Thesis
2020
“Destiny Kearney ’21: Black Representation in the Teaching of Visual Arts”
https://www.bowdoin.edu/news/2020/08/destiny-kearney-21-black-representation-in-the-teaching-of-visual-arts.html
“Black Lady Art Group Focuses on Creating Art and Making Space”
https://bowdoinorient.com/2020/12/04/black-lady-art-group-focuses-on-creating-art-and-making-space/
“In, Not Of… Black Lady Art Group Collective”
Artist Talks + Panels & Workshops
2023
quiet as its kept artist talk, Trolley Barn Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY
2022
4th Annual Thrive: Making a Career in the Arts, Arts Mid-Hudson, Poughkeepsie, New York
2021
Discussion with the Black Lady Art Group, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, ME
Transcend Initiative Virtual Speaker Series: Visual Arts, KIPP Washington Heights Middle School, New York, NY
“Canonical Whiteness: Through the lens of Exorcism Cinema and Teaching Studio Art” A Virtual Screening with Q&A,
Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
