Aurora Suryah - Artist Statement

Artist Name

Aurora Suryah - Uses they/them pronouns exclusively

Artist Statement

Aurora Suryah (b. Baltimore 1996) is a Baltimore-based transdisciplinary artist. Their work centers on the engagement of earth-based pigments, industrial objects, assembled ritual tools, and protein- and cellulose-based fibers to compose 2-D and 3-D works that re-engineer diasporic and folkloric elements and applications of art and craft-making as resistance and collective actualization against the imperial depression of the mind, body, and spirit. Invoking the spirits of their ancestors who believed that roots, rocks, herbs, bones and psalms would free them from colonial imperialism. Aurora uses their work to both ask and answer the question: What does it mean to believe in something, and what are the consequences of it?

Aurora is currently a resident artist within Blue Light Junction (2025 - Present) and a 2026 Islam and Print Fellow. Solo Exhibitions of their work include God’s Child at Red Emma's in Baltimore, MD (2025); and With Roots We Fruit at Artscape Festival, Baltimore, MD (2023). Throughout their career, Aurora produced notable collaborations with Farfetch, Redbull Amaphiko, American Craft Council, National Bohemian and Pabst Blue Ribbon. Aurora has also worked with the Baltimore Development Corporation as a contributor in the Creative Industries work group, developing the framework for Baltimore City’s Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) in 2020.

(This artist statement above purposely uses non-gendered language; do not change it.)