Derriann Pharr is an interdisciplinary artist utilizing various media to explore themes of identity, belonging, and the human body's abjection. Her current work grapples with the push and pull of self-transformation. The beliefs she holds about personhood are heavily informed by a hyper-awareness of surroundings as a little girl who did not feel represented. Pharr’s work is both a celebration and ceremony of healing from intergenerational traumas and triumphs. Documenting her transition into womanhood has been reliant on a necessary examination and collapse of societal expectations—including perceptions of conventional beauty and aesthetics. Pharr finds freedom in alchemizing and combining mixed-media practices to inspire viewers to mend relationships with their inner selves.
Derriann Pharr (b.1998, Winfield, AL) lives and works in Birmingham, AL. She holds a BFA from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Solo exhibitions include Luis De Jesus Los Angeles, CA; Scott Miller Projects, Birmingham, AL; and Bells Gallery, Dothan, AL. Pharr’s work has been exhibited in curated institutional contexts including the Gadsden Museum of Art, Gadsden, AL and Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts, Birmingham, AL.
