About The Black Embodiments Studio
We began in Seattle, WA in 2017 with the goal of cultivating rich, complex discourse around contemporary Black art and artists. Through our Arts Writing Incubator we provide people a structure of support to develop and workshop their own writing on contemporary black art. They get the opportunity to publish in the annual BES journal, A Year in Black Art, and they gain tools to publish in regional and national arts writing outlets. The Brief is our latest publishing venture, focusing on short, unpretentious arts writing that makes you feel again.
Our Public Programming invites Black artists, curators, and writers to be in conversation and collaboration with one another. We’re focused on creative alliances meant to build sustainable peer-support networks, commissioning new work from artists and writers, and developing ethical public programming practices that do not exploit their labor.
Over the years, The Black Embodiments Studio has received support from the University of Washington, Ruth Arts, Terra Foundation for American Art, and other entities.
The Black Embodiments Studio is an arts writing incubator, public programming initiative, and publishing platform dedicated to building discourse around contemporary black art.
Founder + Executive Director
Kemi Adeyemi
The Black Embodiments Studio is founded and directed by Dr. Kemi Adeyemi, Associate Professor of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies at the University of Washington. She is the author of Feels Right: Black Queer Women & the Politics of Partying in Chicago (2022) and co-editor of Queer Nightlife (2021). Her forthcoming book, Writing About Black Art, was a 2023 recipient of the Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writing Grant.
Kemi thinks with and writes about artists on the regular, including, most recently, Alex Da Corte, Nikkita Gale, Will Rawls, Pol Taburet, and others.
Program Director
Leah Harris (she/her) is a thinker, learner, doula and artistic educator with years of experience in community engagement, creative producing and program management. She has worked in various education, engagement and producing capacities at the Zach Theater, Dallas Theater Center, and Milwaukee Repertory Theater. She currently serves as the Artistic Engagement Associate at the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University, where she also teaches within their Theater, Dance and Media concentration. Leah is originally from Dallas, Texas and holds a Bachelor’s in Theater Arts, with a minor in Education Studies from St. Edward’s University.
Leah Harris
Editor
Jessica Lynne is a writer, editor, and art critic. She is a founding editor of ARTS.BLACK, an online journal of art criticism from Black perspectives. Her writing has been featured in publications such as Artforum, Frieze, The Los Angeles Times, The Nation, and Oxford American. Jessica is a recipient of a 2025 Rabkin Prize which celebrates the creative and intellectual contributions of visual arts writers, the inaugural recipient of the Beverley Art Writers Travel Grant awarded in 2022 by the American Australian Association, and a 2020 Arts Writer Grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation.
Jessica Lynne
Designer-in-Residence
Zoë Pulley (b. Chicago, Illinois) is a maker and educator based in Brooklyn, NY. She works with artists, writers and institutions alongside her personal self-initiated projects. Her work utilizes textiles, writing, and digital media to examine American heritage and the seemingly ordinary stories of Black folks.
Pulley received her MFA in graphic design from Rhode Island School of Design in 2023 and her BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2015.
Most recently, Pulley was an Artist-In-Residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem. She has exhibited work at MoMA PS1, The Studio Museum in Harlem, The Newport Art Museum, The RISD Museum and The Art Museum of the University of Memphis. Her work is held in the collections of The Studio Museum in Harlem, The Valentine Museum, the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, and The MET Watson Library. Pulley is an inaugural recipient of the Rhode Island School of Design Society of Presidential Fellowship and was named the Graduate Graphic Designer to Watch by GDUSA in 2023.
She is currently an Artist-In-Residence at Smack Mellon and teaches at Parsons School of Design and Yale School of Art.