Jamilah Sabur is primarily interested in drawing attention to and facilitating climate resilience, both through her core art practice and in her community and advocacy work. Her poetic art practice intricately weaves metaphysics, language, and geography, challenging viewers to critically engage with humanity’s evolving relationship with the natural world. Beyond her artwork she focuses on generating awareness of scientific and technological climate topics. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, she aims to inspire and empower people to co-create solutions as collective guardians of our shared environment. Jamilah served as Lead Organizer for Florida Immigrant Coalition in Miami and Communications Fellow at Community Change in Washington DC. Jamilah is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of Inclusive Climate Futures and is a current member of the Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS-UK) Advisory board for the PACE Index, a collaboration with zedela in Germany, pioneers in data-driven advocacy for historically marginalised communities in Europe.
Jamilah Sabur’s recent solo and group exhibitions include Kingston Biennial:Green X Gold, National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston (current); Storm Cloud: Picturing the Origins of Our Climate Crisis, The Huntington, Los Angeles (2024); Scrawlspace, The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation / The 8th Floor, New York (2024); Labor, SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin (2024); Acts of Translation, New Bond Street Art Program/Gucci, London (2024); Aan de rand van de Hemel: Visioenen, Museum Krona, Uden, Netherlands (2024); This Land, The Contemporary Austin, Texas (2023); Fruits of Labour, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Sint-Martens-Latem, Belgium (2023); Sinking Feeling, Or Gallery, Vancouver (2023); The Harvesters, Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach (2022); La montagne fredonne sous l’océan / The Mountain Sings Underwater, Fondation PHI, Montréal, Québec (2021). Sabur earned a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore (2009), and an MFA from the University of California, San Diego (2014).
Her work is included in the permanent collection of the Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami Dade County Public Art Trust, New Orleans Museum of Art, The Bass Museum of Art, University of Maryland, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) – the central bank of the Netherlands and TD Bank Group.
For her most recent group exhibition with the gallery please click here.
Jamilah Sabur’s recent solo and group exhibitions include Kingston Biennial:Green X Gold, National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston (current); Storm Cloud: Picturing the Origins of Our Climate Crisis, The Huntington, Los Angeles (2024); Scrawlspace, The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation / The 8th Floor, New York (2024); Labor, SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin (2024); Acts of Translation, New Bond Street Art Program/Gucci, London (2024); Aan de rand van de Hemel: Visioenen, Museum Krona, Uden, Netherlands (2024); This Land, The Contemporary Austin, Texas (2023); Fruits of Labour, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Sint-Martens-Latem, Belgium (2023); Sinking Feeling, Or Gallery, Vancouver (2023); The Harvesters, Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach (2022); La montagne fredonne sous l’océan / The Mountain Sings Underwater, Fondation PHI, Montréal, Québec (2021). Sabur earned a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore (2009), and an MFA from the University of California, San Diego (2014).
Her work is included in the permanent collection of the Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami Dade County Public Art Trust, New Orleans Museum of Art, The Bass Museum of Art, University of Maryland, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) – the central bank of the Netherlands and TD Bank Group.
For her most recent group exhibition with the gallery please click here.
Jamilah Sabur, Mnemonic alphabet (A/Alud), 2019, Neon, transformer, print on cotton rag, Honduran mahogany, enamel, 112 x 137 x 8 cm
Jamilah Sabur, After mining the soil is less capable of retaining water, 2022, C-Type print on aluminium, 44.5 x 88.5 cm (framed), and acrylic-casein on linen 120 x 120 cm
Jamilah Sabur, Obra, 2019 digital video, color, sound, 03'17'', Installation view, Faena Festival 2019. Photo by Oriol Tarridas
Jamilah Sabur, in an ocean of air, 2022, Architectural intervention, hand glazed ceramic tile and neon, Installation at the Port of Miami, USA, Courtesy of the Miami-Dade County Art in Public Places Trust
Jamilah Sabur, rivers of air, 2022, Neon, 40 x 6 x 4 cm, Installation view from solo exhibition 'The Harvesters’ at the Bass Miami, USA. Photo credit: Zaire Aranguren
Jamilah Sabur, Tidal locking, 2019, Color, sound, 5 min
Jamilah Sabur, Parabolic reflection diagram, 2022, Neon, transformer, 40 x 6 x 4 cm
Jamilah Sabur, Un chemin escarpé, 2018, 5-channel video, 11'38''. Installation view from the Hammer Museum. Photo by Jeff McLane
Jamilah Sabur, This is where my father was born, 2020 Oil, graphite, on linen 112 x 112 cm
Jamilah Sabur, I will wet you (pl.) with the new water, 2018, Neon and transformers, 289.5 x 20 cm
Jamilah Sabur, an antipode, a stairway, a spectral standard from Arabic At-Tinnin, 2023, Aluminium tray framed inkjet print, neon, Overall dimensions variable
Solo Exhibitions
2023 The Harvesters, Bass Museum, South Beach, Miami, Florida, USA 2022 The Harvesters, Bass Museum, South Beach, Miami, Florida, USA In an Ocean of Air, permanent installation, Port of Miami, Florida, USA Eltanin, Broadway, New York, USA 2021 DADA Holdings, Nina Johnson, Miami, Florida, USA The mountain sings underwater, Momenta Biennale, PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art, Montreal, Canada 2020 Observations: Selected Works by Jamilah Sabur, University of Maryland Art Gallery, Maryland, USA 2019 Memory Palace, Crisp-Ellert Art Museum, St. Augustine, Florida, USA Stream Gradient, Nina Johnson Gallery, Miami, Florida, USA Un chemin escarpé / A steep path, The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, USA 2018 Ibine Ela Acu/Water Sun Moon, Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Winter Park, Florida, USA The Rhetoric of the Living, Emerson Dorsch, Miami, Florida, USA 2017 If defined, then undefine, Dimensions Variable, Miami, Florida, USA Group Exhibitions 2025 Kingston Biennial: Green X Gold, National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston (current) 2024 Scrawlspace, supported by Shelly & Donald Rubin Foundation, New York, USA Storm Cloud: Art, Science, Nature, and the Industrial Age, The Huntington, San Marino, California, USA = Wade, Kaplan Gallery, Maryland, USA 2023 Visions, Museum Krona, Uden, The Netherlands This Land, The Contemporary Austin, Austin, Texas, USA Transatlantic Connections: Caribbean Narratives in Contemporary Art, presented by 1-54, Christie's, London, UK Fruits of Labour, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Belgium Sinking Feeling, Or Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia Here and Now: Recent Acquisitions, University of Maryland Art Gallery, Maryland, USA 2022 Phraseology, The Bass Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, USA Boil, Toil, Trouble, Art in Common, curated by Zoe Lukov, Miami, Florida, USA 2021 Prospect 5, New Orleans: Yesterday we said tomorrow, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA Worldmaking Tentacles, Momenta Biennale, Fonderie Darling, Montréal, Québec, Canada Here there And Everywhere, Foley Gallery, New York, USA Des Tentacules Façonnant Le Monde, Fonderie Darling, Montreal, Canada 2020 Mending the Sky, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans House to House: Women, Politics, and Place, Frost Art Museum, Miami The Willfulness of Objects, curated by Silvia Karman Cubiñá and Leilani Lynch, The Bass, Miami, Florida, USA Time Share, Performa, New York, USA Open Justice, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada 2019 The Last Supper, Faena Art, Miami Beach, Florida, USA The Other Side of Now, Pérez Art Museum, Miami, Florida, USA Parallels and Peripheries, Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit, Michigan, USA 2018 Deconstruction, Frost Art Museum, Miami, Florida, USA Augmented sunrise beneath the skin, Gr_und, Berlin, Germany Études conviviales, SBC galerie d’art Contemporain, Montréal, Canada Between a view and a milestone, ArtCenter South Florida, USA SCORCHED EARTH, Current Projects, Miami, Florida, USA The World’s Game: Fútbol and Contemporary Art, Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida, USA 2017 Sunrise, Sunset, Emerson Dorsch Gallery, Miami, Florida, USA baby boy, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland MemoryLab, History Museum, Miami, Florida, USA Collections include: Pérez Art Museum Miami New Orleans Museum of Art Bass Museum of Art University of Maryland TD Bank Group Collection of the National Bank of the Netherlands Screenings 2018 The Willfulness of Objects, The Bass Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, USA (until 2022) Beneath the rivers, there are no borders, Future of Demonstration, Vienna, Austria A derivation of time, Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Winter Park, Florida, USA Beneath the rivers, there are no borders, Little Haiti Cultural Center, Miami, Florida, USA 2017 Black Radical Imagination in partnership with LUX Scotland, Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, Scotland Black Radical Imagination in partnership with LUX Scotland, ICA London, London, UK Latinoamericano Cine Del Nuevo International Festival in Havana, Cuba EXiS Festival, Busan Corner Theatre, Busan, Korea Black Radical Imagination, The Art Institute of Chicago, USA Crater-Lab, Barcelona, Spain (S8) Mostra de Cinema Periférico, A Coruña,Galicia, Spain Los Angeles Film Forum, Spielberg Theatre at the Egyptian, Los Angeles, USA San Francisco Cinematheque/Crossroads Film Festival, San Francisco, California, USA Performances 2018 Beneath the rivers, there are no borders, Future of Demonstration, Vienna, Austria A derivation of time, Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Winter Park, FL Beneath the rivers, there are no borders, Little Haiti Cultural Center, Miami, FL 2016 My Queen before you go tell my horse, Maggie Knox, Miami, FL 2015 Actual Infinity, Berkshire, Reese and Paul Galleries, Herron College of Art, Indiana University Voleur (thief), performed in collaboration with Andy Robert, Dimensions Variable, Miami, FL 2014 Convoluted Shape, Bakehouse Art Center, Miami, FL 2013 Choreographer, designer, and performer for “Congo River God,” composed and conducted by Joshua Charney. Conrad Prepys Theater, Uni-versity of California San Diego, CA 2012 Zinnia and the whitefly, Summer Salon Series, San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA Lectures 2019 The Other Side of Now, Perez Art Museum - Nov. 15, 2019 Jamilah Sabur in conversation with Micheal Queenland, Hammer Museum - Apr. 18, 2019 Contemporary Art Production in the Carribean, Tout-Monde Festival, ICA Miami - Mar. 17 2017 Design Miami “Performative Representation and Black Aesthetics” – Dec. 7, 2017 “Sheltering Survivors and Boundaries” Coral Gables Museum – Nov. 15, 2017 Keynote talk, MICE: Ghost Intimacies Symposium – Innis Town Hall, University of Toronto – Nov. 4, 2017 Jamilah Sabur in conversation w/ Dr. Lori Lee: race, memory, and negotiation of spaces – Flagler College, St. Augustine – Oct. 17, 2017 2016 Intersectional Feminism, Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami -Aug. 2, 2016 2012 Perspectives: Made With Words (John Baldessarri: A Print Retrospective from the Collections of Jordan D.Schnitzer and Family Foundation), Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla, CA. -Feb. 16, 2012 |