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SÉAN

New Orleans, Louisiana

Two vertically oriented panels make up this painting titled River Yemaya. Up both panels, shimmering turquoise and cool green forms emerge against a teal and celestial blue background. The forms are roughly humanoid with curves suggesting buttocks, a belly, breasts, and a head, and a red starburst is at the center of the chest. Each panel is bordered with rivets.

River Yemaya

2025

A long-bladed machete has a wood handle hanging from a gold chain along with a swivel handcuff key. Golden-brown letters scuffed or rubbed onto the darker blade read “She got love” in all caps.

Machete Study

2024

An American flag acts as the background for collaged words and fabric in this piece titled U.S. All capital white text printed against fields of black read “We the people turn dirt into soil and call it black gold” to the left and “I returned and saw under Miss America the sun, the race aint to the swift nor the battle.

U.S.

2024

A long strip of burlap hanging from a branch is ocean blue along the top in this piece, which is titled Below Sea Level. The bottom half of the strip is brown and the lowest quarter or so puddles on the ground. The form of a torso with breasts and perhaps a head emerges from the cloth just above where it meets the floor.

Below Sea Level

2023

Artworks shown are selected from works submitted by the artist in their grant or residency application. All works are copyright of the artist or artist’s estate.

About SÉAN

Séan is a Black artist with short blond hair. She wears silver earrings, a necklace, and a black vest with pockets near the shoulders. She looks steadily out at us from in front of a blue background.

SÉAN (b. 1997) is an interdisciplinary artist from New Orleans, LA, working in sculpture, assemblage, installation, video, and text-based art. She received an MFA from Columbia University in 2024 and a Bachelor of Architecture from Louisiana State University in 2020. Her work centers themes of identity, religion, place, embodiment, ancestry, and American society.

Program Participation

Joan Mitchell Center Residency, 2026

Website / Social Links

“ I’m interested in who gets to be protected, sanctified, or affirmed, especially in relation to land, queerness, and Black femininity. By blending social critique with reverence, my work creates a space for reckoning and revival.”