Xaviera Simmons

Simmons was raised in New York City to a practicing Buddhist parent in an extremely creative and matriarchal atmosphere. Simmons has mentioned many times in lectures the unique mixture of being raised by Buddhists while also attending various denominations of the Black Church. Simmons traveled frequently to Bangor, Maine as a child and this mixture of New York City and rural Maine have formed many of the ideas inside of her work. Simmons has stated in her lectures and writings that she is a descendant of Black American enslaved persons, European colonizers and Indigenous persons through the institution of chattel slavery on both sides of her family's lineage.

Simmons received her BFA from Bard College in 2004, studying under An-My Lê, Larry Fink, Mitch Epstein, Lucy Sante and Stephen Shore. She completed the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program in Studio Art in 2005, while simultaneously completing a two-year actor-training conservatory with The Maggie Flanigan Studio.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}}

Simmons has held teaching positions at Harvard University, Yale University and Columbia University.

Simmons has shown consistently with David Castillo Gallery since 2010.

Simmons has exhibited works nationally and internationally. Her work has been shown at the Museum of Modern Art (New York), MoMA PS1 (Long Island City, New York), Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Studio Museum in Harlem (New York), Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), the Pérez Art Museum Miami, and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston.{{Cite web|url=https://www.icaboston.org/exhibitions/artists-museum|title=The Artist's Museum {{!}} icaboston.org|website=www.icaboston.org|language=en|access-date=2017-03-12}} In 2017, Simmons had a solo exhibition of her work at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University.{{Cite web|url=https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2017-xaviera-simmons-exhibition|title=Exhibition by Xaviera Simmons {{!}} Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University|website=www.radcliffe.harvard.edu|language=en|access-date=2017-03-12}}

The 2008 Public Art Fund's program for emerging artists commissioned Simmons to produce a three-week project. The project, Bronx as Studio, used the streets of the Bronx as a space for sidewalk games, classic photographic portraiture, and performance art. Passersby were encouraged to participate in various activities including hopscotch, soapbox speaking, chess, and Double Dutch. Simmons provided props and background elements, against which all of the publics' spontaneous activities were recorded. Color portraits were sent directly back to participants, as a way of completing the process of active, creative participation.{{Cite web|url=https://www.publicartfund.org/exhibitions/view/bronx-as-studio/|title=Bronx as Studio - Public Art Fund|website=www.publicartfund.org|access-date=Sep 19, 2019}}

In 2010 The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University commissioned Simmons to produce a full length record album inspired by the landscape and histories of North Carolina. Simmons produced a set of photographic images and sent them to musician friends who subsequently wrote music to her images. From this work Simmons album "Thundersnow Road" was released in 2010 via Merge Records.{{Cite web|url=https://archives.nasher.duke.edu/therecord/simmons-xaviera.php|title=Xaviera Simmons, Cover to Cover|website=www.duke.edu|access-date=2025-05-23}} Musicians on the album include: Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Harrison Haynes of Les Savy Fav, Mac McCaughan of Superchunk, and Tunde Adebimpe, Jaleel Bunton and Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio.

She participated in the Artists Experiment series at the Museum of Modern Art in 2013. Simmons acted as both artist and archivist, tracing the museum's own history while extracting and reinstating examples of political action through gesture.{{Cite web|url=https://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2013/02/25/archive-as-impetus-xaviera-simmons/|title=Archive as Impetus: Xaviera Simmons|website=www.moma.org|access-date=Sep 19, 2019}}

Coded was a survey exhibition at The Kitchen in 2016.{{Cite news|url=https://www.artforum.com/picks/id=61420|title=Xaviera Simmons at The Kitchen|last=Fateman|first=Johanna|work=artforum.com|access-date=2017-03-12|language=en-us}} In relation to it, Simmons also created a performance work using archival materials and resources to explore queer history, homoeroticism, and Jamaican dancehall culture.{{Cite web|url=http://thekitchen.org/event/xaviera-simmons-coded|title=The Kitchen: Xaviera Simmons: CODED|website=thekitchen.org|language=en|access-date=2017-03-12}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/arts/xaviera-simmons-elevates-queerness-9429203|title=Xaviera Simmons Elevates Queerness|last=Rao|first=Mallika|date=2016-12-07|work=Village Voice|access-date=2017-03-12}}

In 2018, Simmons made a public art installation on Hunter's Point South Park on the East River in Queens, New York. The installation, Convene, consisted of inverted canoes painted in the colors of the national flags of some immigrant populations in the area.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/ten-public-art-works-to-see-for-free-around-new-york-this-summer|title=Ten public art works to see for free around New York this summer|website=www.theartnewspaper.com|date=2 July 2018|access-date=2018-07-09}}

In 2019, Simmon wrote an opinion piece for The Art Newspaper, with the title "Whiteness must undo itself to make way for the truly radical turn in contemporary culture."{{Cite web|url=http://www.theartnewspaper.com/comment/whitney-biennial-whiteness-must-undo-itself|title=Whiteness must undo itself to make way for the truly radical turn in contemporary culture|website=www.theartnewspaper.com|date=2 July 2019|access-date=2019-10-01}} She also pulled out as a panelist at IdeasCity Bronx, a New Museum festival, when local Bronx organizers shut it down with their concerns.{{Cite web|url=https://hyperallergic.com/518686/a-bronx-event-organized-by-new-museum-shut-down-after-protest-by-local-activists/|title=A Bronx Event Organized by New Museum Shut Down After Protest by Local Activists|date=2019-09-22|website=Hyperallergic|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-01}}

In 2021, Simmon's work was featured in Polyphonic: Celebrating PAMM's Fund for African American Art, a group show at Pérez Art Museum Miami highlighting artists in the museum collection acquired through the PAMM Fund for African American Art, an initiative created in 2013. Along with Xaviera Simmons, among the exhibiting artists were Faith Ringgold, Tschabalala Self, Romare Bearden, Juana Valdez, Edward Clark, Kevin Beasley, and others.{{Cite web |title=Polyphonic: Celebrating PAMM's Fund for African American Art • Pérez Art Museum Miami |url=https://www.pamm.org/en/exhibition/polyphonic-celebrating-pamms-fund-for-african-american-art/ |access-date=2023-03-15 |website=Pérez Art Museum Miami |language=en-US}}

Simmons initiated an ongoing project entitled Reading Work (www.readingworkstudio.com) which engaged hundreds of individuals and collectives from across the United States in compensated reading and art-making. The project was funded by the Ford Foundation's Art for Justice grant. Simmons has stated that this project is non-linear and ongoing.

The Queens Museum commissioned a site specific solo exhibition in 2022 from Simmons. The title, "Crisis Makes a Book Club," comes from a conversation between Simmons and the artist Michael Rakowitz. The project was critically acclaimed with multiple reviews in the New York Times.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/03/arts/design/xaviera-simmons-queens-museum.html|title=Planting Seeds to Produce Real Change|first=Aruna|last=D’Souza|date=November 3, 2022|via=NYTimes.com}}https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/01/arts/design/art-exhibitions-museums-fall-preview.htm

After the show’s closing Simmons, who is an ardent supporter of artists rights, pushed back against The Queens Museum, the show’s host for violating her intellectual property by repurposing and adapting her large scale work "Align" for a separate unrelated exhibition without the artist's permission.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=September 22, 2023 |title=Xaviera Simmons Accuses Queens Museum of Repurposing Her Work Without Permission |url=https://www.artforum.com/news/xaviera-simmons-accuses-queens-museum-repurposing-work-without-permission-512545/}}

In 2025 Simmons photographed her long time friend Tunde Adebimpe for his album "Thee Black Boltz".url=https://www.subpop.com/artists/tunde_adebimpe Adebimpe previously recorded a song on Simmons' record, Thundersnow Road which is also the name of her studio.https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/session-four-thundersnow-road-xaviera-simmons/wgGf4CgG0AfJ7

• 2025: Marshall L. Davis Sr. African Heritage Cultural Arts Center, Miami-Dade County

Simmons' work is held in the following collections, among others:

• Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago
• Guggenheim Museum, New York
• The High Museum of Art, Atlanta
• The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, North Carolina
• The Rubell Museum, Miami
• UBS Art Collection, New York
• The Studio Museum, Harlem
• Weatherspoon Art Museum, North Carolina
• The Agnes Gund Art Collection
• Deutsche Bank, New York
• Soho House, New York City, Rome, DC
• Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida{{Cite web |title=Untitled (Pink) • Pérez Art Museum Miami |url=https://www.pamm.org/en/artwork/2013.55 |access-date=2023-03-15 |website=Pérez Art Museum Miami |language=en-US}}
• The Museum of Modern Art, New York{{Cite web|title=Xaviera Simmons. Red (Number One). 2016 {{!}} MoMA|url=https://www.moma.org/collection/works/216495|access-date=2021-02-25|website=The Museum of Modern Art|language=en}}
• the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia
• the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
• the Rubell Family Collection, Miami, Florida
• the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York
• Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois
• Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
• Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, Florida
• Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami, Florida--->
• the de la Cruz Collection,{{Cite web|title=de la Cruz Collection|url=https://www.delacruzcollection.org/|access-date=2021-02-18|website=de la Cruz Collection|language=en-US}} Miami, Florida
• the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts{{Cite web|title=Sundown (Number Twelve) {{!}} icaboston.org|url=https://www.icaboston.org/art/xaviera-simmons/sundown-number-twelve|access-date=2021-02-25|website=www.icaboston.org}}
• the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, Florida {{Cite web|title=Harvest|url=https://icamiami.org/collection/xaviera-simmons-harvest-2010/|access-date=2021-02-25|website=Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami|language=en-US}}

Simmons has served on boards including:

• Printed Matter, Inc.{{Cite web|title=Former Board Members|url=https://www.printedmatter.org/about/people|access-date=2025-05-23|website=Printed Matter, Inc.|language=en-US}}
• Spaceworks

Spaceworks was a not-for-profit organization developed by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs to help artists with affordable work space. The program provided performers with low cost hourly rehearsal space and visual artists with affordable studio space on an annual lease.{{Cite web|title=Rising Rents Leave New York Artists Out in the Cold|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/09/arts/design/rising-rents-leave-new-york-artists-out-in-the-cold.html|access-date=2025-05-23|website=New York Times|language=en-US}}

Simmons has acted as an artist advisor for The Foundation for Contemporary Arts.

• [https://nmwa.org/blog/xaviera-simmons-how-might-our-entire-history-have-been-different/ National Museum of Women in the Arts blog : Artist Spotlight : Xaviera Simmons]
• [https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/136 MoMA Magazine : A Day with Xaviera Simmons]
• [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/18/arts/design/abney-bey-fordjour-simmons-harlem-renaissance-met.html/ The New York Times : Six Artists On the Enduring Impact of the Harlem Renaissance]
• [https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/03/arts/design/xaviera-simmons-queens-museum.html/ The New York Times : Planting Seeds to Produce Real Change]
• [https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/14/t-magazine/xaviera-simmons-queens-museum.html/ The New York Times : Xaviera Simmons Is Embarrassed for America]
• [https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/22/arts/design/queens-museum-racial-justice.html/ The New York Times : Words and Actions: Queens Museum Shows About Seeking Racial Justice]
• [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/23/arts/design/social-power-of-art.html/ The New York Times : In San Francisco, Wielding Influence (Gently) Through Art]
• [https://brooklynrail.org/2020/05/art/XAVIERA-SIMMONS-with-Marcia-E-Vetrocq/ The Brooklyn Rail : XAVIERA SIMMONS with Marcia E. Vetrocq]
• [https://www.frieze.com/article/xaviera-simmons-michael-rakowitz-community-interview-2022/ Frieze : Xaviera Simmons and Michael Rakowitz on What It Really Means to Be in Community]
• [https://brooklynrail.org/2022/11/artseen/Xaviera-Simmons-Crisis-Makes-a-Book-Club/ The Brooklyn Rail : Xaviera Simmons: Crisis Makes a Book Club]
• [https://mlmiamimag.com/in-conversation-with-xaviera-simmons/ Modern Luxury : In Conversation With Artist Xaviera Simmons]

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20150215213856/http://momaps1.org/studio-visit/artist/xaviera-simmons MoMA PS1 Studio Visit: Xaviera Simmons]
• [http://bombmagazine.org/article/3310/xaviera-simmons BOMB Magazine: Xaviera Simmons by Adam Pendleton], 2009
• [http://nasher.duke.edu/therecord/simmons-xaviera.php The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl at The Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University]
• [http://216.197.120.164/artistbibliog.cfm?id=8081 Xaviera Simmons] on the African American Visual Artists Database

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