AleXeana harlem (elle/they/them) is a St. Louis based artist, educator, herbalist and cultural archivist. Combining fibers, photography, and textile with narratives of the land and its people, harlem creates “soft spaces for hard bodies.”

 

They use radical softness to bring hard selves back home, so that we may acknowledge the reality of our shared experiences to work towards a better existence. harlem studies cultural populations across the Americas to archive the stories of those that may be misremembered. Their work explores themes of identity, culture, gender, queerness, memory keeping, and security. harlem is a current Luminary Studio Resident and has shown work at the Contemporary Art Museum of St. Louis and throughout the United States.