Petra Floyd (she/they) is a queer first-generation Liberian-American multidisciplinary artist and designer raised by working-class immigrants in Philadelphia, and she lives and works in Pittsburgh. Petra makes whatever she wants, however she wants, ideally making herself laugh throughout the process. Petra values improvised, devised, and collaborative modes of making and thinking. They link up with other instigator-activators to craft small moments and performances using close-at-hand materials and resources. Petra dreams about group movement and gameplay spaces for self-reflection and expansion. They make sounds, videos, drawings, and performances happen, with feeling.
+BA in Studio Art from Swarthmore College in 2012.
+MFA from Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Art in 2022, where they received a Lea Simonds graduate fellowship, project funding from The Frank-Ratchye Fund for Art @ the Frontier, and the inaugural Ken Meyer Professional Studio Development award.
+Recently: Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council’s Black Arts Action Committee, BLK ART LAB at Pittsburgh’s Protohaven makerspace, The Pittsburgh Foundation’s Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh, and the Heinz Endowments’ Creative Development awards.
+Previously: Freshworks at Kelly Strayhorn Theater (2021), 40th Street Artist-in-Residence Program (2016-2017), Second State Press Fob Holder Program (2016), Apprenticeship at The Fabric Workshop and Museum (2014).
+Exhibitions: You Give Me Joy! at iMPeRFeCT Gallery, Before the DJ Was Sound, and She Played It at FJORD gallery
Petra Floyd 