Makaveli Gresham

Artist & Arts Administrator in Omaha, Nebraska, they/he

About

I am a multidisciplinary artist and designer from Oklahoma City, exploring online aesthetics and bureaucracy through alternative photographic processes and image-making.

Since 2021, I have supported operations and programming at Western Arts Alliance. With nearly a decade of experience as a cultural worker, my background also includes event production, curation, and film programming

Exhibitions

2022
Portland, OR

'whether they did it or not', 2022. Cyanotype on silk. 11" x 11"

A concept group show featuring pieces from 50 incredible artists organized by Maya Rose of Lowell Shop Gallery.

Writing

2022
that ain't for you, that's for your friends, ha or, the secret power of the rap video

Originally made for @5thavecinema ‘s zine, Reel Heads. It existed only there for a very long time but I really appreciated being invited to contribute and the process of putting this together with the constraints of space / words

2020

In line with Charles Davis III's assertion in regards to the formation of black space and it’s spectral qualities representing the "material conditions of black survival", two black utopian projects: Soul City, North Carolina and the unrealized work of Architects Renewal Committee in Harlem (ARCH) in New York City are analyzed to explicate to what extent that the United States built environment is compatible with "black survival". These two case studies are used to inform an understanding of the anti-black nature of Modernism and the cultural relationship between the construction of "whiteness" and "blackness" in the United States. This relationship based on capital and space influences the sabotage of black survival in the suburban hegemony and further exploitation via urban renewal in the United States.

Awards

2024

Created to serve artists living in the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area, the Inside/Outside Fellowship program is an opportunity for deep immersion in both studio practice and community engagement: Fellows explore materials and ideas to advance their creative practices while developing art projects that contribute positively to this place we call home.

Features

2022

Briefly interviewed by Luiza Lukova, about my participation and the piece I submitted for the exhibition, 'hanky'. Includes additional analysis of gallery shows and artworks in the Portland metro that included text.

2019 — 2020
Fabrication & Production Assistant at Office Andorus
Portland, OR
2018 — 2020
2017 — 2018

Education

2016 — 2020