Ryn Wilson is a photography and video installation artist working in New Orleans. She creates cinematic narratives with an emphasis on feminism, mythology, and the environment. She grew up in Wisconsin, receiving her BFA in photography from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2006 and her MFA in photography and video from the University of New Orleans in 2013. Before landing in New Orleans, she resided in Tokyo, Bangkok, Hamburg, and Shanghai, where she assisted the Chinese photographer, Maleonn. Ryn was a member of the artist-run gallery, The Front, from 2014-2019 where she exhibited, curated, and organized an annual short film festival. In 2018, Ryn co-founded the Crystal Efemmes, a quartet of interdisciplinary artists that create immersive installations retelling myths and histories from a perspective that honors marginalized populations. In 2021, she opened the Wading Room with Peter Hoffman, a six-month art gallery project. She currently co-runs Camp Street Studios and Parlour Gallery in the New Orleans Arts District. Ryn’s work has been featured at the Ford Foundation Gallery in NYC, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans, Kunsthall Stavanger in Norway, and the Oslo International Video Art Festival. She has received funding from the Foundation for Contemporary arts and the Jazz & Heritage Foundation. Ryn currently works as a costume designer and seamstress for film, performance, and fashion.
CV
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS (*solo and two person)
2023:
Diminutive Works, Conde Contemporary, Natchez, MS
Third Floor Window x Folio Gallery: For The Camera, For The Screen, For The Audience, SOA Folio Gallery, Lubbock, TX
Escapism as a Mirror to the Soul: Unearthing the collective unconscious, Studio Waveland, Waveland, MS
Echoes & Shadows, Parlour Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2022:
Phantasma, Art Conscious, Arabi, LA
Disguises, Southeastern Louisiana University Contemporary Gallery, Hammond, LA
*PORTENT: Laura Velez and Ryn Wilson, The Front, New Orleans, LA
2021
Unidentified Woman Musician, A Crystal Efemmes Installation, New Orleans Jazz Museum, New Orleans, LA
Ghost Orchid: Holograms, A Performance with the Crystal Efemmes, Aurora Picture Show, Houston, TX
Time, After Time, Aquarium Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Per(Sister): Incarcerated Women of the United States, Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Michigan State University, Lansing, MI
Ultimum Spiritum, Wading Room Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2020
14th Annual Louisiana Fine Arts Showcase, President’s residence at Southeastern University, Hammond, LA
Per(Sister): Incarcerated Women of Louisiana, The Ford Foundation Gallery, New York City, NY
2019
The Fall (by the Crystal Efemmes), The Front, New Orleans, LA
Per(Sister), Diboll Gallery of Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
Liminal Landscapes, Southeastern Louisiana University Contemporary Art Gallery, Hammond, LA
GORGO, Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette, LA
The Dark Grotto, SALON Gallery at Canal Place Mall, New Orleans, LA
The Wizard, Monte Vista Projects, Los Angeles, CA
Per(Sister), Newcomb Art Museum of Tulane University, Woldenberg Art Center, New Orleans, LA
Mixed Media, The Blue House, New Orleans, LA Tango, Little Berlin, Philadelphia, PA
2018
*Mirroria, The Front, New Orleans, LA
The Future is Female, UNO St. Claude Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Light Within, Pietra, New Orleans, LA
You Want a Piece of Me (a Front collaboration in conjunction with Carlos Rolon’s Outside/In), New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
2017
Click Bait, The Front, New Orleans, LA Full House, The Front, New Orleans, LA
*FRACTURE, The Front, New Orleans, LA
I [love] America and America [loves] me, Box 13, Houston, TX
2016
*HEKS/SMUK, The Front, New Orleans, LA
Artscape: Artist-run art fair, Baltimore, MD
Carry On, Feral Gallery + Breve Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico
2015
*Lost Archives, The Front, New Orleans, LA
Straight Shot, Mass Gallery, Austin, TX
*Discipline, The Front, New Orleans, LA
2014
Videoextravaganza #3 - Translocations, or on how presence in space can change (you), Digital Interactive Art Space, Vallensbaek, Denmark
Videoscape: A screening inspired by Nicolas Party's exhibition Landscape, Kunsthall Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway
The Front @ Art Lab, Art Lab and Makii Masaru Fine Arts, Tokyo, Japan
*Fathom (MCMLXXVI), The Front, New Orleans, LA
Oslo Screen Festival - International Video Art Festival, Oslo, Norway
GRANTS/RESIDENCIES
2023 Metropolitan Fukujusou Artist in Residence, Kyoto, Japan
New Orleans Tourism and Cultural Fund Mini Grant
2022 Platforms Fund, Antenna, Ashé Cultural Art Center, and Junebug Productions
2021 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation Community Partnership Grant for Media Documentation and Creation
2020 Foundation for Contemporary Arts COVID relief grant
2019 SALON Artists in Residence, New Orleans Arts Council and Canal Place
2018 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant for Visionary Bring(H)ers / FutureTell(H)ers, a collaborative performance with Vanessa Centeno, Robyn LeRoy-Evans, andCristina Molina
EDUCATION
2013 University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA Master of Fine Arts, Photography and Video
2006 University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Bachelor of Fine Arts, Photography
PUBLICATIONS
“Forbidden Foods,” in Nourish and Resist: Food and Feminisms in Contemporary Global Caribbean Art, eds. Hannah Ryan and Lesley A. Wolff, pp. 329-352. , Yale University Press, 2023
Gus Hoffman, PORTENT at The Front, www.thestclaudeartrag.com, April 18, 2022
Monica Uszerowicz, Ghost Orchid, www.burnaway.org, January 5, 2022
Art for Humanity’s Sake, www.64parishes.org, Spring 2019
Sue Strachan, Blue House Civic Studio’s ‘Mixed Media’ tackles imprisonment, and life after, through art, www.theadvocate.com, March 22, 2019
Charlie Tatum, Exhibition Pick: Ryn Wilson, www.pelicanbomb.com, October 4, 2018
Eric Bookhardt, Review: Mirroria, Gambit Weekly, September 16, 2018
Thomas Jean, À La Nouvelle-Orléans, la triennale d’art Prospect, IDEAT Contemporary Life, February 2018
Barbara Hammond and Ryn Wilson, Letters., Press Street Press, September 2017
Signals : Issue No. 5, Press Street Press, May 2017
Katie Pfhol, Artists Find Incriminating Clues: Looking back to 2014-2016, The Front Round 5, 2016
Burnaway Staff, Burnaway’s Best of 2015: Exhibitions, www.burnaway.org, December 21, 2015
Naomi Shersty and Ryn Wilson, Artists in Conversation, www.pelicanbomb.com, April 20, 2015
Sylvie Contigulglia, P.3, P.3+ at the Saint-Claude Art District, www.arte- walk.blogspot.com, November 26th, 2014
Eric Bookhardt, Review: New works at the Front, Gambit Weekly, May 27, 2014