Akea Brionne is an interdisciplinary researcher and artist, working within Afro-Surrealism. Her practice explores the relationship between history and contemporary society. Working in lens-based media and textiles, the work analyzes the impact of colonial systems on cultural storytelling, memory, assimilation, and the African Diaspora, primarily within American and Caribbean society.
Brionne is originally from New Orleans, Louisiana and was raised in Baltimore. She currently lives and works between Detroit, MI and Kansas City, MO. Brionne is currently an AICAD Fellow, Assistant Professor at the Kansas City Art Institute.
Born in 1996 in Louisiana
Lives and works in Detroit, MI
Installation view of Akea Brionne: Trying to Remember at Library Street Collective, 2023-2024
“I explore a lot of ideas surrounding displacement, assimilation, and the preservation and reclamation of ancestral wisdom through storytelling, Surrealism, and world building as a Creole woman.”
— Akea Brionne
Selected Work
Akea Brionne
I Arrived Without Moving, 2026
Image woven on jacquard, glitter, rhinestones, adhesive, cotton thread, poly-fil, oil pastel
48 x 60 in
Akea Brionne
A Room That Waits, 2026
Jacquard, glitter, and oil stick
48 x 120 in
Akea Brionne
Echoes of Another Shore, 2025
Jacquard, sand, glitter, rhinestones, poly-fil, cotton thread
48 x 48in
Akea Brionne
Detail of American Girls, 2025
Jacquard, glitter, rhinestones, cotton, thread
82 x 62 in
Akea Brionne
Detail of By My Side, 2024
Digitally woven image on jacquard, rhinestones, glitter, thread, poly-fil
48h x 48w in
Akea Brionne
Pond of Life, 2024
Digitally woven image on jacquard, glitter, thread, poly-fil
60h x 96w in
Akea Brionne
The Moon Directs the Sea, 2023
Jacquard, Rhinestones, Thread, Poly-fil
48h x 96w in
Akea Brionne
Detail of All Noir, You’re a Star, 2023
Jacquard, Rhinestones, Thread and Poly-fil
48h x 48w in
Exhibitions and Projects
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Akea Brionne
A Dreaming Hour
Presented by Cranbrook Art Museum
June 20, 2026 - September 6, 2026
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Akea Brionne, Sam Friedman, Robert Moreland, and Tyrrell Winston
Untitled Art, Miami Beach
Booth A35
December 3, 2025 - December 7, 2025
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Warp and Weft: Technologies within Textiles
January 25, 2025 - May 3, 2025
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UNTITLED Art Fair
December 4, 2024 - December 8, 2024
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Akea Brionne and Paul Verdell
Booth 425
September 5, 2024 - September 8, 2024
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Akea Brionne
Trying to Remember
November 17, 2023 - January 6, 2024
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Untitled Art Fair
Untitled Art Fair
Booth C42
December 6, 2023 - December 10, 2023
Selected Press
May 28, 2025
Knight Foundation Announces 2025 Arts + Tech Fellows
Artforum
June 18, 2024
Akea Brionne’s Dazzling Artworks Blend Traditional Tapestry with Photography
Galerie Magazine
March 29, 2024
Akea Brionne’s Uncanny Rhinestone Tapestries Unsettle Memory and the Familiar
Colossal
December 15, 2023
In Her Photo-Based Tapestries, Detroit Artist Akea Brionne Conjures an Afro-Surrealist World
Artnet
November 24, 2023
Akea Brionne conjures her ancestral traditions at Library Street Collective
Detroit Metro Times
November 20, 2023
Get Your Culture On. Best Black Artists and Exhibits to See This Fall and Winter
Ebony Magazine
July 11, 2023
Keeping Time
Baltimore Beat