KYA BERRY

Landscape as a Witness explores concepts of land and migration, illustrating the ways in which
Black people carve and shape their communities, both naturally and within domestic spaces. In
response to the current global climate, I felt compelled to create work that speaks to themes of
movement, creation, and active dreaming.

This body of work aims to solidify lost histories, such as my own ancestry, back into the
collective narrative. My work encourages Black individuals to allow ourselves not only to hope
but to dream, actively and expansively, to conceive a world in which we can occupy space
whenever and wherever we choose. Although much of our history has been, and continues to
be, erased, through this work I choose to create a new and brighter history, opening the canvas
to welcome my community as dreamers within this shared space. Landscape as a Witness is
not only my hope, but also my dream of what our world can become through Black imagination.

I aim to defy and reclaim narratives around Black inferiority and beauty, shifting ownership into
our hands. Through this lens, I am able to craft a world of my own, one without constraints or
rules. The work aims to create a dreamlike state, not rooted in our current reality, but
manifesting what could be: a world that truly understands the meaning of freedom.