Ari is a Two Spirit, cultural practitioner, interdisciplinary artist, work ranges from photography and collage to performance art. On the faculty of URI and Montserrat College of Art. Graduated with Honors in Fine Arts at Brandeis University, awarded the Rosland W. Levine Award. Earned his MA in Art and Education Columbia, MFA Hoffberger School of Painting, MICA. Pursued a studio practice committed to challenging the canon. Curated Black Futures at HallSpace Gallery in Boston MA 2023 and Material Matters at The Jamestown Arts Center in 2024. Persuasions, a mid-career retrospective exhibition, was presented at the BCA. Residencies include four Yaddo Fellowships, the Art Matters Inc. NYC Artist Fellowship, Skowhegan residency and a VT Studio Center Grant. Dune Shack Residency Cape Cod MA in 2019 and a Blue Mountain Residency NY. Received 2 Connecticut Commission Arts grants, NEA Artist Fellowship, the New England Foundation, Art Matters Grant and two Pollock Krasner Foundation International Grants, In 2020 recipient of A.R.T. Grant Berkshire Foundation. Representation Yezerski Gallery Boston, affiliated with June Kelly Gallery NYC. In the collections of the RISD Museum, Chrysler Museum, Fitchburg Art Museum, DeCordova Museum, Taft Museum, Scottsdale Arts Center, Castellani Art Museum, Visual Artists Fellowship Archive Smithsonian Institution’s NMAA and the Haas Family Arts Library Yale among others. A 2023 recent acquisition at Rose Art Museum Brandeis. Fellow Brown University’s (CSREA) Center for Study of Race and Ethnicity in America for 2020-21.
Freedom Arrows 2023
arrows (feathers (mostly turkey), wood, paint, metals, brass, beads, leather plastic, twine, acrylic paint, bone, human hair, stone, arrow heads) dimensions variable.
Artist Statement
My creative process and studio practice involves the scholarly exploration conducted in tandem with the development of an aesthetic which seeks to convey a social construct that further focuses on creating an art considering social justice. This is my exploration of transculturalism. The work is not political but rather more closely related to “a conversation” in its broadest and inclusive context. The ongoing work is to research what is “Black Indian”, and the work created from the exploration will serve as the basis for a dialogue that is intended to go beyond the work. The work is part of the global dialogue, which seeks to question the canon by engaging in the deconstruction of perceived cultural constructs examining oppression. What is holocaust? There is an effective ambiguous nature to the work that aptly lends itself to the focus of the discussion on subjugation while still being interested in resolving formal conceptual issues. I am acutely interested in and fascinated by the issues raised by the work in addressing the false universal societal constructs-racism, community, and environments, their interaction with myth, their persuasiveness focusing on the deconstruction of stereotyped images as they relate to people of color in the global sense and relationships to the Holocaust. I use Holocaust here in the global context. I am a black Indian as well. I am indigenous. I am interested in connecting the conceptual/formal concerns of the work with transculturalism at the center of the aesthetic debate/conversation. This exploration should provide the backdrop for the continued development of the work from its formal and conceptual directions while enhancing my interest in cultural history as it pertains to the Pan-African Holocaust. I am thinking Goya and his Third of May… This is my concept of intersectional experience. To explode the canon. My work then has a multi-layered approach that seeks to encourage a transformative process for the viewer. I hope to continue developing an evolving dialogue with the work that recognizes the realities of global oppression and its implications.
Additional Info
Artist Website: Ari Montford
Part of Growing the NetWorks
This artist was selected by a past NetWorks Rhode Island participant as part of Growing the NetWorks — a 2025 exhibition presented by WaterFire Providence, at the WaterFire Arts Center, celebrating peer-nominated artists from across Rhode Island. Learn more at waterfire.org/growingthenetworks
Highlighting the work of selected artists who have played vital roles in shaping the contemporary visual arts community in Rhode Island. This collection of brief video portraits provides a window into the lives, practices, and cultural contributions of professional artists.
