Sheherazade Thénard is an award-winning Miami-based artist, curator, and educator whose work intertwines Afro-Caribbean symbolism, Black feminist media, and the experiences of a Black queer artist in the American South. Their practice transforms autobiographical memories into reimagined landscapes, exploring themes of belonging, protection, and ancestral connection.
Sheherazade holds a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts from the University of Central Florida (2022) and has exhibited widely, including a two-person show in London, “Rootwork” with Chili Arts Project (2023). Their work was also featured in a traveling group show curated by Mashonda Tifrere, “Easy Like a Sunday Morning”. Recently, they were curated into “On the Way Home” with Heike Dempster at Dimensions Variable (2024)
Recognized as an emerging talent by Artsy (2024), they are currently developing the “Little Islands” project, celebrating the Island Diaspora through multimedia exhibitions.
ZouZou
Charcoal, pastel & pearl on BFK Reeves Paper
Expulsion (Steel Drums of the Underbelly)
Charcoal, indigo, pastel on paper collage
RaRa
Charcoal, pastel, rhinestone & pearl on BFK Reeves Paper
Sheherazade Thénard’s practice translates the language of painting into drawings that explore the interplay of light and shadow, creating a visual dance that uncovers and celebrates forms hidden within darkness. This
series of charcoal works employs a reductive drawing technique, where the artist carves shapes and light from the charcoal, rather than building shadow from a white surface. Some of these images are then encrusted with rhinestones and pearls.
In these works, Thénard investigates the enduring influence of Josephine Baker, delving into her legacy as an icon of complex, tropicalized representation. By reframing Baker’s image, Thénard highlights her significance in reshaping Black and Caribbean identities within the media landscape, prompting viewers to question how such bodies have been historically consumed and portrayed. Thénard, a descendant of the Black Caribbean diaspora with familial ties to Martinique and Trinidad, creates portraiture that weaves together personal experiences of embodiment with colonial archival narratives. Their work navigates a dual inheritance-of ancestry linked to the islands and experiences shaped by the American landscape, revealing a layered exploration of diasporic identity.
Through a balance of shadow and light, Thénard’s drawings challenge colonial frameworks, creating contemplative spaces that reclaim Black identity and presence. This body of work becomes a space for memory, one that honors Baker’s legacy while forging new pathways for understanding and reimagining Caribbean identity.
