The Portfolio Review Series Online:
In her detailed drawings, prints and sculptures, Rhea Leonard (b. Miami, FL, 1991) explores the black body and its psychology, place, and perception in society today.
Leonard received her BFA from University of Florida through New World School of the Arts College (Miami, FL, 2014) and her MFA from Florida International University (Miami, FL, 2018). She is the recipient of the Betty Laird Perry Award (2018) and the Women in the Visual Arts Scholarship (2017-2018). Leonard’s work is part of the Patricia & Philip Frost Art Museum (Florida International University, Miami, FL). She is currently a resident of The Bakehouse Art Complex in Miami, Florida.
Instagram: @rhea.leonard_art
Website: Cargocollective.com/rlart
Podcast Interview: https://soundcloud.com/rockingchairsessions/rcs-vol-143-rhea-leonard
The artworks across my practice speak to complex emotions and situations within the Black community and the difficult realities therein. In the process, I aim to affirm and validate the inner, personal reality of Black life. My work also presents these situations to a wider audience that doesn’t experience it, as well as to those that would rather not acknowledge that reality at all. – Rhea Leonard
