Cerebral Women Art Talks Podcast

Ep. 265| Through her dynamic, celebratory quilted portraits of people of African decent , Bisa Butler (b. 1973, Orange, NJ) investigates the purposes and potential of portraiture within the Black historical narrative. Butler's influences range widely from personal family scrapbooks to American folk traditions and AfriCOBRA philosophies. Although her finished works are made entirely of textiles, Butler approaches the medium from a painterly perspective. Sourcing imagery mainly from photographs, she uses layered fabrics and quilting to create unique compositions , psychological depth and detailed textures that she found missing from her paintings. By returning to textiles, Butler has reconnected with her family's history since it was her grandmother and mother who taught her to sew.
Bisa Butler lives in Orange, New Jersey and has a studio in Jersey City. Butler earned her BFA in painting at Howard University, Washington, D.C. in 1995 and holds a MAT in teaching art from Montclair State University, New Jersey.
Her work has been exhibited widely, both domestically and internationally at institutions such as The Art Institute of Chicago, The Newark Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Bisa was named an honorary doctorate or letters from Bloomfield College . This past fall her sold out solo exhibition at the Jeffrey Deitch Gallery was widely attended. She is preparing for a major museum exhibition opening in spring 2027
Photo by Javier Romero

Artist http://www.bisabutler.com/
Jeffrey Deitch https://deitch.com/artists/bisa-butler
Art Institute Chicago https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/9324/bisa-butler-portraits | https://www.artic.edu/artists/116361/bisa-butler
Howard University https://thedig.howard.edu/featured-people/bisa-butler
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco https://www.famsf.org/events/talk-quilted-portraits-artist-bisa-butler
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture https://nmaahc.si.edu/events/afrofuturism-big-objects-big-stories-i-go-prepare-place-you-bisa-butler-34 | https://nmaahc.si.edu/object/nmaahc_2021.38
Smithsonian American Art Museum https://americanart.si.edu/artist/bisa-butler-32332
Gordon Parks Foundation https://www.gordonparksfoundation.org/exhibitions/gordon-parks-foundation-gallery/bisa-butler-materfamilias
Museum of Fine Art Boston https://www.mfa.org/video/bisa-butler-quilting-for-culture
Katonah Museum of Art https://www.katonahmuseum.org/exhibitions/exhibition/bisa-butler-portraits
Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design https://www.vasd.rmcad.edu/bisa-butler
Essence https://www.essence.com/art/bisa-butler-quilts-beauty-into-being/
New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/t-magazine/jill-scott-bisa-butler.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&fbclid=PAdGRleAP60BRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA8xMjQwMjQ1NzQyODc0MTQAAad80NN9Z1xbX_GBvQWGHtwglbhOx8NSZJl4eqBeWclM56CSbPp0MLiVrfKOlg_aem_8fKfZPZF634x_3yc1N8dIA | https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/15/special-series/quilting-textiles-bisa-butler.htm
Colossal https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/09/bisa-butler-hold-me-close-quilted-portraits-exhibition/
Artsy https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-bisa-butlers-enigmatic-quilted-portraits-draw-iconic-images-black-history
Juxtopoz https://www.juxtapoz.com/news/magazine/features/bisa-butler-stitching-history/
World of African Art United https://waau-art.com/highlights/artist-in-focus-bisa-butler/
Scholastic https://art.scholastic.com/pages/special-collections/text-sets/bisa-butler.html | Magazine https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/bisa-butler-quilts-portraits-vibrant-color-180982331/
ARTnews https://www.artnews.com/art-news/artists/how-i-made-this-bisa-butlers-quilt-portraits-1234614612/
Craft in America https://www.craftinamerica.org/artist/bisa-butler/ | https://www.craftinamerica.org/short/bisa-butlers-influences/
United States Artists https://www.unitedstatesartists.org/artists/bisa-butler

Ep.264 features Aida Muluneh. Born in Addis Ababa in 1974, she graduated from Howard University in Washington, D.C., with a degree in Communications, majoring in Film. Her photography has been widely published and is included in the permanent collections of prestigious institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art, the Hood Museum, the RISD Museum of Art, and the Museum of Biblical Art in the United States. Muluneh received the European Union Prize at the Rencontres Africaines de la Photographie in Bamako, Mali, in 2007, the CRAF International Award of Photography in Spilimbergo, Italy, in 2010, and was a CatchLight Fellow in San Francisco, USA, in 2018. In 2020, she was honored with the Royal Photographic Society Award in Curatorship.
In 2019, Muluneh became the first black woman to co-curate the Nobel Peace Prize exhibition and returned the following year as a commissioned artist for the prize. Her commissioned projects use creativity to educate and advocate on topics related to the environment and health. Her work has been exhibited globally and published in key publications worldwide. As a leader in her field, she has been recognized as a change-maker in Africa, shifting perceptions of the continent.
As a prominent Canon brand ambassador, Muluneh is deeply committed to advocating for the development of photography in Africa through her educational programs across the continent. She is the founder of Addis Foto Fest (AFF), the first international photography festival in East Africa, held since 2010 in Addis Ababa, and the Africa Foto Fair, established in 2022 in Côte d’Ivoire. The Africa Foto Fair is both an exhibition and a virtual publication that brings emerging and established talents to the global photography community. Additionally, she established the Africa Print House, which offers fine art photography printing through her studio in Abidjan—a creative space that provides end-to-end solutions for photographers in Africa. As an educator and cultural entrepreneur, she continues to develop projects with local and international institutions in Ethiopia and Côte d’Ivoire.
Photo credit: Mario Epanya
Artist https://aidamuluneh.com/
Efie Gallery https://efiegallery.com/
ffoto Gallery https://www.ffotogallery.org/whats-on-listings/aida-muluneh-nationhood-memory-and-hope
Art in the Middle Magazine https://www.artinthemiddle.com/exhibition/aida-muluneh-efie-gallery-exhibition-spotlight-2026
Impressions Gallery https://www.impressions-gallery.com/resource/meet-the-artist-aida-muluneh/
Canon France https://www.canon.fr/pro/ambassadors/aida-muluneh/
MoMA https://www.moma.org/artists/68306-aida-muluneh
Photography Ethics Center https://www.photoethics.org/podcast/aida-muluneh
Africa Art News https://www.africaartnews.com/posts/aida-muluneh-exhibition-this-bloom-i-borrow
The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/may/29/photographer-aida-muluneh-necessity-of-seeing-bradford-city-culture
C& https://www.contemporaryand.com/fr/events/aida-muluneh-the-homeless-wanderer
Aesthetica Magazine https://aestheticamagazine.com/aida-muluneh-an-unparalleled-voice/
1-54 https://www.1-54.com/nowness-trailer-water-life-by-ethiopian-photographer-aida-muluneh/
Phmuseum https://phmuseum.com/exhibitions/the-homeless-wanderer-by-aida-muluneh-at-galleria-giampaolo-abbondio
VOGUE https://www.vogue.com/article/the-homeless-wanderer-a-oneiric-visual-exploration-of-identity-and-belonging-by-aida-muluneh
Jakopic Gallery https://mgml.si/en/jakopic-gallery/exhibitions/692/aida-muluneh/
Textile Museum https://textilemuseum.ca/event/aida-muluneh-water-life/
David Krut Projects https://davidkrutprojects.com/artists/35609/aida-muluneh

Mickalene Thomas is a globally celebrated multidisciplinary artist renowned for her dazzling, rhinestone-studded portraits that boldly reimagine the representation of Black women in contemporary art. Working across painting, photography, collage, video, and installation, Thomas creates vibrant, layered compositions that explore complex themes of race, gender, identity, sexuality, and beauty. Her visual language draws from 1970s aesthetics, African textiles, domestic spaces, personal histories, and iconic moments in art history. By referencing figures like Manet, Matisse, and Romare Bearden, she both honors and disrupts the Eurocentric art canon—placing empowered images of Black women at the center.
Her work unapologetically challenges traditional beauty standards and amplifies narratives often excluded from mainstream art spaces. Thomas’s pieces are part of permanent collections at major institutions including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Smithsonian, solidifying her role as a leading figure in contemporary visual culture. Beyond her studio practice, Thomas is a visionary curator, mentor, and educator. She actively supports emerging artists—especially women, LGBTQ+ creatives, and artists of color—through mentorship, community engagement, and inclusive curatorial work. She is also a Tony-nominated co-producer, further demonstrating the reach of her creativity across disciplines.
In 2023, Thomas made history as the first Black queer femme artist to have a scholarship endowed in her name at Yale University, her alma mater. This milestone reflects her commitment to fostering access and equity in the arts for future generations. Her influence only deepened in 2025 — a landmark year— in which she was named one of TIME100’s Most Influential People, became the first African-American artist to be honored with a major solo show at the Grand Palais in Paris, and was the Keynote Speaker at Rutgers University-Camden’s Commencement.
She has received prestigious accolades, including the Creative Capital Award, the Hirshhorn Museum’s National Arts Award, the Queens Museum Honoree distinction, and the Joan Shepp Woman of Substance & Style honor. She was named Honorary Co-Chair of the Dance Theatre of Harlem and was recognized at the NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health 150th Anniversary Gala for her monumental mosaic “Freesia on My Mind: The Beauty of Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” on permanent display at the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospital in Brooklyn.
Mickalene Thomas continues to break boundaries and elevate underrepresented voices through her bold visual storytelling, cultural leadership, and unwavering commitment to justice and representation. Her work not only transforms how we see beauty and identity—it also redefines who gets to be seen, celebrated, and remembered in the world of art and beyond.

Photo credit: © Chad Kirkland, 2019

Ep.262 Kathia St. Hilaire. Born in West Palm Beach, USA, Lives and works in New York. Informed by her experience growing up in Caribbean and African American neighborhoods in South Florida, the artist seeks to memorialize the communities that she has been a part of through innovative printmaking techniques. Her work draws inspiration from Haitian Vodun flags, which are used to tell the country’s history and honor ancestral spirits. Using nontraditional materials such as beauty products, industrial metal, fabric or tires, she creates ornate tapestries that seek to preserve the Haitian history and Vodun religion that lives around us in Miami.

Kathia St. Hilaire received her M.F.A. in Painting and Printmaking at the Yale School of Art in New Haven, Connecticut and her B.F.A. in Printmaking at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island. Her work has recently been featured in solo shows at the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA; Perrotin, New York, NY; and the NSU Art Museum Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Lauderdale, FL; as well as group exhibitions at the Speed Museum of Art, Louisville, KY; The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs; Half Gallery, New York; Blum & Poe, New York; and James Fuentes, New York.

Photo credit: ©Photo Claire Dorn. Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin

Perrotin https://www.perrotin.com/fr/artists/kathia_st_hilaire/954#news

https://leaflet.perrotin.com/view/1216/the-vocals-of-the-chaotic-burst

Beaux Arts https://www.beauxarts.com/expos/a-la-galerie-perrotin-la-jeune-kathia-st-hilaire-regarde-vers-lhistoire-haitienne/

Speed Art Museum https://www.speedmuseum.org/exhibitions/current-speed-kathia-st-hilaire-invisible-empires/

NYTimes https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/22/arts/american-museums-galleries-art-guide.html

NSU Art Museum https://dailyartfair.com/exhibition/17305/kathia-st-hilaire-perrotin

Culture Type https://www.culturetype.com/tag/kathia-st-hilaire/

Artfrofest https://artfrofest.com/visit/curators-eye-kathia-st-hilaire-vocals-chaotic-burst/?srsltid=AfmBOorzMbsps9gdivbbc0wWqO-1y3muLS93dRuf_UmpHii1rm_-vJ-0

Ocula https://ocula.com/art-galleries/perrotin/exhibitions/kathia-st-hilaire/

e-flux https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/611610/kathia-st-hilaireinvisible-empires

Daily Art Fair https://dailyartfair.com/exhibition/17305/kathia-st-hilaire-perrotin

France24 https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/arts24/20260113-artist-kathia-st-hilaire-s-deceptively-delicate-visions-of-chaos-and-resistance

Sortiraparis https://www.sortiraparis.com/arts-culture/exposition/articles/340085-kathia-st-hilaire-une-exposition-engagee-a-la-galerie-perrotin

Slash https://slash-paris.com/critiques/kathia-st-hilaire-galerie-perrotin

Actuart https://www.actuart.org/2026/01/kathia-st.hilaire-the-vocals-of-the-chaotic-burst.html

Amelie du Chalard https://www.amelieduchalard.com/

Franceinfo https://la1ere.franceinfo.fr/monde/outremer/expo-l-artiste-kathia-saint-hilaire-explore-les-blessures-d-haiti-pour-parler-du-monde-1669956.html

Mudam https://www.mudam.com/collection/kathia-st-hilaire

Tiffanie Delune. Born in Paris, France in 1988 and living now in Montpellier in the South of France, she has exhibited internationally in Europe, North America, West Africa and Asia.
Her solo exhibitions include “The Geography of Feelings”, Gallery 1957, London, United Kingdom (2024), “There's Gold on the Palms of My Hands”, Gallery 1957, Accra, Ghana (2023), “See Me Flowing”, Band of Vices, Los Angeles, United States (2022), “There's Gasoline in My Heart”, Foreign Agent, Lausanne, Switzerland (2022) and “Seeds of Light”, Ed Cross Fine Art, London, United Kingdom (2020).
She has also participated in numerous group exhibitions including: “Sacred Movements”, Galerie Christophe Person, Brussels, Belgium (2025), “Alchemical Gestures”, Galerie Revel, Bordeaux, France (2025), “The Fabric of Life”, Paul Smith, London, UK (2024), “A Spirit Inside”, Compton Verney, Warwickshire, United Kingdom (2024) and The Lightbox, Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom (2023), “Touching the Sky”, Mucciaccia Contemporary, Rome, Italy (2023), “In and Out of Time”, Gallery 1957, Accra, Ghana (2023), “Unlimited”, Gallery 1957, Accra, Ghana (2022), “The Storytellers”, Gallery 1957, London , United Kingdom (2022), “Mother Nature”, The Core Club, New York, United States (2022), “Her Dark Materials”, With Eye of the Huntress, London, United Kingdom (2021) and “In the Midst of All That Is”, Band of Vices, Los Angeles, United States (2021).
In 2023, Tiffanie Delune was in an art residency with Gallery 1957 in Accra, Ghana. In 2022, the artist was nominated to the Norval Sovereign African Art Prize 2023 and in 2021 to the Reiffers Art Initiatives in Paris, France. Her work has notably been published in the Financial Times, The New York Times, The Evening Standard, Cultured Magazine and Frieze Magazine and has covered the medical publication Ethics & Human Research, The Hastings Center, Garrison, NY, United States (2023), the poetry books Open Leaves poetry collections — Poems from Earth, Harryette Mullen, Black Sun Flowers Poetry, London, United Kingdom
Photo credit: Ninon de Buyl
Artist https://tiffaniedelune.com/
Christophe Person https://www.christopheperson.com/artworks/2121-tiffanie-delune-morph-x-2025/
Gallery 1957 https://www.gallery1957.com/artists/82-tiffanie-delune/
Art Paris 2026 https://www.artparis.com/fr/artist/112715 |
https://www.artparis.com/en/gallery/3485
Drawing Now https://www.drawingnowparis.com/en/exhibitors/christophe-person/
Galerie Revel https://www.galerierevel.com/exhibitions/26-alchemical-gestures-tiffanie-delune-kartini-thomas-kimia-ferdowsi-kline-alymamah/
Cultured Mag https://www.culturedmag.com/article/2021/07/08/tiffanie-delune/
C& https://www.contemporaryand.com/fr/events/tiffanie-delune-theres-gasoline-in-my-heart
SHOWstudio https://www.showstudio.com/news/frieze-highlights-how-spirituality-and-geometry-coalesce-in-tiffanie-delunes-exhibition
Asakan https://asakan.art/tiffanie-delune-je-ne-cherche-ni-a-plaire-ni-a-menfermer-je-souhaite-uniquement-appeler-au-reve-a-lemotion-a-la-question-et-au-dialogue-entre-les-mondes-et-limaginaire/
Artnet https://www.artnet.fr/artistes/tiffanie-delune/
Mucciaccia https://mucciaccia.com/it/tiffanie-delune/