Artist Name: Trasonia Abbott
Residency Dates: February – May 2022
Born: 1998
Hometown: Richmond, Virginia
Lives & Works: New York
URL: https://trasonia.bandcamp.com / @trasonia_abbott
Bio/Statement:
Trasonia Abbott is a multi-disciplinary, non-binary artist from Richmond, Virginia. They graduated from Pratt Institute in 2020 with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Writing and a minor in Film. Trasonia is passionate about community building through arts and education. In the summer of 2020, they came together with some neighbors to found Queens Liberation Project (QLP), a mutual aid group mostly involved in resource redistribution events. In 2021 they curated and hosted a 3 night series of talks surrounding blackness and the future of art and activism after 2020, for Flux Factory’s Rhizome Project. The series ended with the Celebration of Black Life Cypher, bringing together black artists to showcase their works. In 2021, Trasonia participated in the Abolitionist Youth Organizing Institute run by Project NIA and worked with fellow artist Ada Chen to put together the first Queens Solidarity Festival, which brought together Black and Indigenous lead organizations, artists and community with free food and a day of workshops and performances. Current projects include a mixtape centered on processing state violence, the planning of the second iteration of the Celebration of Black Life Cypher, as well as organizing a Coat Drive with QLP that will benefit the women staying at the Radisson Hotel Women Shelter in Jamaica, Queens.
Support: Trasonia Abbott’s residency is made possible with support from New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
