Kenturah Davis

Kenturah Davis is a visual artist working between Los Angeles and Accra (Ghana). Her work oscillates between various facets of portraiture and design. Using text as a point of departure, she explores the fundamental role that language has in shaping how we understand ourselves and the world around us. This manifests in a variety of forms including drawings, textiles, sculpture and performances. Davis earned her BA from Occidental College and an MFA from Yale University School of Art. Davis was commissioned by LA Metro to create large-scale, site-specific works permanently installed on the new Crenshaw/LAX rail line. She was an inaugural artist fellow at NXTHVN in New Haven, CT. Davis’ recent solo exhibitions include clouds, Stephen Friedman, London, UK (2024); (a)Float, (a)Fall, (a)Dance, (a)Death, Jeffrey Deitch, New York (2021). Some recent institutional exhibitions include Ode to ‘Dena: Black Artistic Legacies of Altadena, California African American Museum (2025); Our House: Selections from MOCA’s Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2022); Currents and Constellations, Cleveland Museum of Art (2022); and Black American Portraits, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) (2022).

Website:
www.kenturah.com/drawings

This bio/description was originally published in 2025 and updated in 2025. For more current information, please refer to the award recipient's website (if provided).