Ilana Harris-Babou facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ilana Harris-Babou
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Ilana Yacine Harris-Babou
1991 (age 33–34) Brooklyn, New York City, U.S.
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| Education | Yale University BA – 2013 Columbia University MFA – 2016 |
Ilana Harris-Babou (born 1991) is an American artist. She creates sculptures and installation art. This means she makes art that fills a space, and you can walk through it or around it. Ilana was born in Brooklyn, New York. She is currently a professor of art at Wesleyan University.
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Ilana Harris-Babou's Art Style
Ilana Harris-Babou often gets ideas for her art from TV shows. She uses parts of music videos, cooking shows, and even home improvement shows. She likes to explore ideas about the "American Dream" in her work. This is the idea that anyone in America can succeed and have a good life.
Ilana uses humor to connect with people. She takes things from everyday shopping and changes them to make us think.
"Reparation Hardware" Project
In 2018, Ilana created a special art project called "Reparation Hardware." She built a fake hardware store inside a gallery in New York City. For this project, she used old, reclaimed furniture. She turned these old pieces into new sculptures. This showed how old things can be made new again.
"Reparation Hardware" also makes us think about how we live in our homes today. It also shares important messages about emancipation and equality for African-Americans in the United States.
Exhibitions and Shows
Ilana Harris-Babou's art has been shown in many places. She has had solo exhibitions, which means shows just for her art. These include The Museum of Arts & Design in New York and Vox Populi Gallery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her work has also been seen at the de Young museum in San Francisco and the Jewish Museum in New York. She has even shown her art in Europe, like at Le Doc in Paris, France.
"Decision Fatigue" Exhibition
Her recent exhibition was called "Decision Fatigue." It was shown in New York City in 2020. A main part of this exhibit was a video of Ilana's mother, Sheila Harris. In the video, her mother gives a makeup tutorial. She talks about why she chooses to look young and healthy. This makes us wonder about what is real and what is not.
Ilana uses this video to show how big problems in society can sometimes seem like small, personal choices. The exhibit also had sculptures that looked like items you might find in a fancy store. But Ilana changed them to look a bit strange or unusual.
Selected Exhibitions
- 2016 – In Response: Unorthodox – The Jewish Museum, New York City
- 2017 – One Bad Recipe – The Museum of Arts and Design, New York City
- 2018 – Reparation Hardware – Larrie, New York City
- 2018 – Further Thoughts on Earthly Materials – Kunsthaus Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
- 2019 – 2019 Whitney Biennial, curated by Rujeko Hockley and Jane Panetta.
- 2019 – Strange Loops– Artspace, New Haven, CT. Curated by Johannes DeYoung and Federico Solmi.
- 2020 – Decision Fatigue – Hesse Flatow, New York City.
Awards and Recognition
Ilana Harris-Babou has received several awards for her art. These awards help artists continue their work and get more recognition.
- 2017 Artist Community Engagement Grant, Rema Hort Mann Foundation, New York City
- 2017 Van Lier Fellow, Museum of Arts and Design, New York City
- 2018 Session, Recess Art, New York City
- 2020 National YoungArts Foundation's Jorge M. Pérez Award
