Born in Columbia, South Carolina, Jacolby Satterwhite is celebrated for a conceptual practice addressing crucial themes of labor, consumption, carnality and fantasy through immersive installation, virtual reality and digital media. He uses a range of software to produce intricately detailed animations and live action film of real and imagined worlds populated by the avatars of artists and friends. These animations serve as the stage on which the artist synthesizes the multiple disciplines that encompass his practice, namely illustration, performance, painting, sculpture, photography and writing. Satterwhite draws from an extensive set of references, guided by queer theory, modernism and video game language to challenge conventions of Western art through a personal and political lens. An equally significant influence is that of his late mother, Patricia Satterwhite, whose ethereal vocals and diagrams for visionary household products serve as the source material within a decidedly complex structure of memory and mythology.

Satterwhite received his BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Arts, Baltimore and his MFA from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. His work has been presented in numerous exhibitions and festivals internationally, including most recently at Munich’s Haus der Kunst, Gwangju Biennale, London’s Whitechapel Gallery, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, San Francisco Museum of Art, and Pioneer Works and New Museum in New York, among others. Satterwhite was awarded the United States Artist Francie Bishop Good & David Horvitz Fellowship in 2016 and his work is included in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma in Helsinki, New York’s MoMA, Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Whitney Museum, among others. In 2019, Satterwhite collaborated with Solange Knowles on her visual album, “When I Get Home.”

Jacolby Satterwhite exhibits his film, "Shrines" in the "Garden of Eden" program.

Image by Sam Waxman