Martine Syms

(b. 1988)

Martine Syms has described herself as a “conceptual entrepreneur,” making an institution of herself in defiance of the conservative, “money laundering” activities of traditional art institutions. With a distinct sense of humor and command of contemporary technology, her work explores Blackness, femininity, pop culture, and self-presentation. Syms’s work often bridges film, video, photography, performance, installation, and graphic design. After graduating from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2007, Syms opened Golden Age: a bookshop, gallery, and music venue that operated from 2007 to 2011, first in Pilsen and subsequently in the West Loop. In conjunction with her studio practice, she runs the publishing house Dominica, which prints books that center Blackness “as a topic, reference marker, and audience in visual culture.”