Inye Wokoma is a visual artist, journalist and filmmaker. His family has lived in Seattle’s Central District since the 1940s where he continues to live, work and make art. His work mines the history of this place to uncover the ways history, land, politics and power shape our personal and collective narratives. By rooting his work in the immediacy of place and social experience, he wrestles ideas like the relationships between personal and collective identities, free will and imposed power structures, and identity as a political experience that is simultaneously fixed and fluid.
Inye received his B.A. in Mass Communications-Journalism and Film Studies from Clark Atlanta University in 1996. Since then he has worked consistently as a photographer and filmmaker while maintaining an evolving personal art practice. He received a 2002 Editorial Photography Award and a 2006 Photo Essay Award from the Society of Professional Journalists Western Washington, a 2004 National Council on Crime and Delinquency PASS Award for criminal justice reportage, a 2012 Telly Award for his film ‘Lost and (Puget) Sound’, a 2019 Americans For the Arts Public Art Year In Review Award as a part of the groups show ‘Borderlands’ and a 2019 Neddy Award Winner in the Open Medium category. As a Fall 2020 Amazon Air Artist In Residence, he is working on new resin based collage works in their Expressions Studio in Downtown Seattle.
Curriculum Vitae
Education .
1991 -1996
Clark Atlanta University – B.A. Mass Communications, Journalism and Film
On-Going Projects .
2019 Wa Na Wari – Co-Founder
Co-Founded a black art & media center in Seattle’s Central District as a platform for engaging, organizing and building capacity amongst black homeowners and cultural workers to advocate for public policy reform around issues of housing security, economic development and cultural resilience. Co-designing and spearheading a community led campaign to engage policy makers around land use, zoning and property taxes.
Solo Exhibitions .
2022 – ‘Separation Census’, Seattle Art Fair, Seattle WA
2017 – ‘An Elegant Utility’, Northwest African American Museum, Seattle, WA
2016 – ‘This Is Who We Are’, The Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA
2009 – ‘Reckoning Evolution’, The Electric Tea Garden, Seattle, WA
2009 – ‘The Road To Denver’, Lynwood Convention Center, Seattle, WA
1997 – ‘Millions Marching’, Douglass-Truth Library, Seattle, WA
Group Exhibitons & Installations .
2023 –‘The First 50 Years: Highlights from the Civic Collection 1973-2023’, ARTS at King Street Station, Seattle, WA
2023 – ‘I Choose To Remember Us Whole’, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, WA
2023 – ‘Neddy Artist Awards: 25 Years’, Museum of History & Industry, Seattle, WA
2022 – ‘Resisters’, Wing Luke Museum, Seattle WA, USA
2021 – ‘Solar Utopias’, Seattle Channel, Seattle WA, USA
2019 – ‘Ampersand Live 2019’, The Moore Theater, Seattle, WA
2018 – ‘Turning the Earth’, Liberty Bank Building, Seattle, WA
2017 – ‘Borderlands’, King Street Station Gallery, Seattle, WA
2017 – ‘Out of Sight’, Out of Sight Pop-up Galllery, Seattle, WA
2017 – ‘LISTEN: It’s A Sound Show’, Equinox Studios, Seattle, WA
2017 – ‘BOOM: Changing Seattle’, Center for Architecture & Design, Seattle, WA USA
2011 – ‘The Corner: 23rd & Union’, Northwest African American Museum, Seattle,WA
2011 – ‘Jackson Street Music History Project, Public Art on Jackson St., Seattle, WA
2011 – ‘All Member Review’, Columbia City Gallery, Seattle, WA
2011 – ‘Full Circle’, Columbia City Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
2010 – ‘All Member Review’, Columbia City Gallery, Seattle, WA
2010 – ‘Single Item’, Columbia City Gallery, Seattle, WA
2009 – ‘The Corner: 23rd & Union’, Public Art Installation at 23rd & Union, Seattle, WA
2009 – ‘Festival Sundiata Visual Arts Exhibit’, Seattle Center Armory, Seattle, WA
2007 – ‘6th Annual PONCHO Invitational Fine Art Auction’, Seattle, WA
2006 – ‘Lost & Found’, Washington State Convention Center, Seattle, WA
2006 – ‘Festival Sundiata Visual Arts Exhibit’, Seattle Center Armory, Seattle, WA
2005 – ‘Love Now’, Nordstroms Downtown, Seattle, WA, USA
2005 – ‘Festival Sundiata Visual Arts Exhibit’, Seattle Center Armory, Seattle, WA
2004 – ‘Festival Sundiata Visual Arts Exhibit’, Seattle Center Armory, Seattle, WA
2003 – ‘Festival Sundiata Visual Arts Exhibit’, Seattle Center Armory, Seattle, WA
1998 – ‘Annual Group Show’, Atlanta Photography Group Gallery, Atlanta, GA,
1996 – ‘Zone III Photographic Workshop Annual’, Nexus Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, GA
Curator .
2022 – “The Stories We Carry: Reimagining Regionalism”, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA
Publications & Press .
2022 – Vivian Phillips ‘REIMAGINING WHAT CONSTITUTES “AMERICAN” ART’ Arte Noire,
November 21, 2022
2019 – Neddy at Cornish: ‘Inye Wokoma | 2019 Neddy at Cornish Award Winner’
Cornish College of the Arts Vimeo Channel, 2019
2018 – Naomi Ishisaka: ‘Inye Wokoma’s Last Stand: One Man’s Fight To Save Seattle’s Central District’
Seattle Magazine, April 1, 2018
2017 – Mihn Nguyen: ‘An Elegant Utility’s Radical Interdependency’, Seattle Weekly, June 21, 2017
2017 – Gayle Clemens: ‘The Ways Love Shows Up in the World’, Seattle Times, May 16, 2017
2017 – Amber Cortes: ‘The Best Art Shows In Seattle: Spring 2017’ The Stranger, March 1, 2017
2017 – Lisa Edge: ‘Family Ties: Artist Inye Wokoma Follows His Family History Through the Central
District’, Real Change, February 8, 2017
2017 – Amber Cortes: ‘Inye Wokoma: An Elegant Utility’, The Stranger, February 1, 2017
Collections .
The Frye Art Museum Permanent Collection, Seattle WA,
City of Seattle Portable Artworks Collection, Seattle, WA,
Teaching .
2010 – SPLASH! – Seattle Public Schools Environmental Media Summer Camp, Seattle, WA,
2009 – ‘RECKONING: Evolution’ Arts & Activism Workshop, Seattle, WA, USA
2006-2007 – Edge Magazine Hurricane Katrina Project – Asa Mercer Middle School, Seattle, WA,
2004 – Youth Video Arts & Production, Mercer Middle School, Seattle, WA, USA
2001 – 2002 – Arts Corps, Video Production Classes – Garfield Teen Life Center, Seattle, WA,
2000 – 2001 – Photography and Graphic Arts – Seattle Central College/SVI Campus, Seattle, WA,
1999 – Photography & Darkroom Basics – S.I.M.B.A. Program, Atlanta, GA,
Lectures & Presentations .
2020 – Amazon Conflux Design Conference – Artist talk about creative process
2020 – Amazon Air Artist In Residence – Artist talk about creative process
2018 – Film Screening & Panel Discussion, ‘A Central Vision, City of Seattle, Office of Civil Rights, Seattle Center Armory,
Seattle, WA,
2018 – Film Screening & Panel Discussion, ‘A Central Vision, Local Sightings Film Fest, Northwest Film Forum, Seattle, WA,
2018 – Film Screening & Artist Lecture, ‘A Central Vision, UW College of Built Environments, University of Washington School of
Architecture, Seattle, WA,
2018 – Film Screening & Panel Discussion, ‘A Central Vision, City of Seattle Office of Planning and Community Development,
Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, Seattle, WA,
2017 – Artist Lecture, ‘An Elegant Utility’, Northwest African American Museum, Seattle, WA,
2017 – Complex Exchange, ‘An Elegant Utility’, Northwest African American Museum, Seattle, WA, 2016 – In These Times, In This Place, On This Land, The Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA
2016 – Collaborating Artists Round Table, ‘This is Who We Are, The Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA
2005 – ‘Inye Wokoma: My Art Past, Present and Future’, Seattle Arts Commission, Seattle, WA
2005 – ‘Hurricane Katrina: A Photojournalists View Of The Impacted Areas, University of Washington
School of Social Work, Seattle, WA
Awards, Grants & Residencies .
2020 – Amazon Air Artist In Residence
2019 – Neddy Awards Winner for Open Medium Visual Arts & Social Engagement
2018 – Americans for the Arts Public Art Year In Review Award for Borderlands Exhibition
2017 – Seattle Magazion Most Influential Seattleites of 2017
2015 – 4Culture Heritage Grant for short film production
2012 – Telly Award for Educational Filmmaking, Film: ‘Lost & Puget Sound’
2012 – Colorado Environmental Film Festival Best of Festival/Youth Films, Film: ‘Lost & Puget Sound’
2010 – Office of Arts & Culture Visual Arts Grant for short film production
2006 – African American Photographer’s Association ‘Lost & Found’ Exhibit, Juror’s Choice/1st Place Award
2006 – Society of Professional Journalism Western Washington Division – Excellence in Journalism Award for Feature Photography
2004 – The National Council on Crime and Delinquency – PASS Award for Journalistic Excellence in Criminal Justice System
Reporting/Feature Photography
2002 – Society of Professional Journalism Western Washington Division – Excellence in Journalism Award for Feature Photography
1999 – City of Atlanta Arts Council Artist in Residence, Atlanta, GA, USA