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Detroit-bred and based fine artist, muralist and 2017 Kresge Fellow Sydney G. James earned her BFA at the College for Creative Studies in 2001 and began her career as an Art Director in advertising. Sydney headed to Los Angeles in 2004, to expand her career as a visual artist in the film and television industry and earned her master’s degree in secondary education. Returning to Detroit in 2011, Sydney has become one of the leading creative voices in southeast Michigan. Exploring themes of the racial and gender positioning of the black woman/ person in America as “last” or “least among others” in society, has been the central theme in Sydney’s work recently. As co-founder of the BLKOUT Walls Mural festival, through community activations in addition to her personal portraits and murals, she seeks to reposition this narrative of the black person’s visibility.

photos by Lamar Landers @lamarlanders