
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.
Petra received an MFA from Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Art in 2022 and BA in Studio Art from Swarthmore College in 2012. She has been a Freshworks artist at Kelly Strayhorn Theater (2021), a resident artist at 40th Street Artist-in-Residence Program (2016-2017), a Fob Holder at Second State Press (2016), and a Post-college Apprentice at The Fabric Workshop and Museum (2014).