YRNEH GABON
Yrneh Gabon Brown is a Jamaican-born, Multi and inter-disciplinary, Mixed media and performance artist based in Los Angeles. Having graduated from the University of Southern California (USC) BFA with (Hons) and Otis College of Arts and Design, (MFA). Yrneh is a multi-disciplinary artist that seeks to balance and intersect artistic representation with social activism and social commentary, particularly regarding issues pertinent to Africa and people within its Diaspora.
In 2014, after travels and research in Tanzania, Jamaica and across American, Gabon was given his first solo and major body of work at the California African American Museum CAAM entitled “Visibly Invisible”, Albinism in Tanzania, Jamaica, and the USA through his eyes.
“Visibly Invisible” Focused on the killings, the hunting and mistreatment of people born with Albinism, and brought attention to the plight of people living with Albinism particularly in East Africa and was instrumental in speaking at the United Nation, in New York advocating for the passing of the bill that protects people with Albinism around the world.
His ongoing project is an Operetta on ecological Climate Change entitled “Memba Mi Tell Yu/Listen Up Take Note” bringing awareness to the nexus of ecological climate change dealing with fire and water. His current project phase 2 “Ditched the Salt” focus on salt consumption, sensitivity and its relationship and history with people of color.
In 2017, Gabon completed a summer residency at the Fundación Sebastián in Mexico City, Mexico. His work, entitled “Roots and Symbols,” explored the invisible people of African heritage in Mexico and the lack of equitable resources in communities of color in the black coastal Mexico.
Gabon has held exhibitions in New York, California and internationally in Vancouver Canada, Dakar Senegal and Jamaica, West Indies. In December 2018, Gabon had the distinct honor and privilege to be one of the featured international artists at the Musée des Civilizations Noires inaugural exhibition in Dakar, Senegal.
Gabon was invited to exhibit in the Summer 2019 at the National Gallery and was a Guest Speaker at “Mi and Me Suitcase” Earl Warner Foundation, at the University of the West Indies (UWI) HQ fundraiser benefiting Scholarships for arts students, in Jamaica. A true artist in heart and soul, Gabon has been in the arts and entertainment for over 35 years and has worked as a poet, actor/singer, director, producer, playwright, special effects make-up artist and creative director.
Gabon’s purpose and aim continues to use of all mediums of art as a tool for empowerment, social activism and social commentary regarding issues surrounding Africa and its Diaspora. His work continues to create new narratives and extend dialogue between Africa and its Diaspora, both in the first and the developing world.
Gabon 2022 Dakar biennale selecting “Salt” was inspired by his travels to Lac Rose in Senegal and explores the intersection of salt as a commodity in Africa and the United States.
“It is my desire to use my Fine Arts Practice to re-educate and address the inequities within
underserved communities and reconstruct a narrative, that bridge us as a people facing social,
ecological, and political climate change in the future”. Yrneh Gabon is the 2023-2024, Arts and
Research Fulbright Fellow to Botswana, Southern Africa.”
— Yrneh Gabon
SOLO
2024
• Spirit Lead Me- Luis De Jesus Gallery (Solo exhibition) Los Angeles, CA, USA
2023
• Collective Conversations Matter, Matter Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
• “They Came,” House of the Enslaved Museum, Gorée Island, Senegal
2021
• Spring Guest: Art Lecturer at Xavier University, New Orleans, LA, USA
2019
•Spring Intersection, Pounder-Kone Art Space, Los Angeles, CA
2016
• Memba Mi Tell Yu, Bolsky Otis College of Arts and Design, Los Angeles, CA
• Visibly Invisible, California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Group
2024
• Salted Sermon- Thapong Visual Arts Center, Gaborone, Residency and exhibition
• Gallery Momo Johannesburg, South Africa, Residency and Artist talk
• Under the Poetree -Poetavango Collective at the Nhabe Museum, Maun, Botswana.
• (Duet) Residency and Exhibition (Identities and Identity), Museum of Black
Civilization, Dakar, Senegal
2022
• Adornment and Artifact: Getty Villa, Los Angeles, CA (Curator: Dr. Jill Moniz)
• At the Table: Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA (Curator: Heber
Rodriguez)
• A Salted Intermission: 14th Edition of the Dakar Biennale, Palais De Justice,
Dakar, Senegal (Curator: Dr. Malick Ndiaye)
• Le Marché International Des Arts de Dakar, 14th Biennale De Dakar, Dakar,
Senegal (Curators: Kalidou Kasse and Khady Kasse)
• The Phoenix Project: Continuing the Dialogue from 1992,
• Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA (Curators: Mark Steven Greenfield,
Chungmee Lee, Lili Bernard, Yun J Choi, Min Cho, Tammy Cho)
2021
• Radical Propagations / Propagaciones Radicales, 18th Street Arts Center,
Santa Monica, CA (Curator: Maru García)
• Recovery Justice: Being Well, 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA
• Mojo Rising, Ronald H. Silverman Fine Arts Gallery, Cal State LA, Los
Angeles, CA (Curator: Jill Moniz)
2020
• Suturo Artists and Poems: Los Angeles 2020, Online Exhibition (Curators:
Steven Wolkoff, Alexander Wisenfeld, Jenny Hager)• (Group) Black Lives Matter, Online Exhibition, El Camino College Art Gallery, Los
Angeles, CA (Curator: Susanna Meiers)
• Drive-By-Art (Public Art in This Moment of Social Distancing), WEST of
Western, Los Angeles, CA (Curators: Warren Neidich, Renee Petropoulos, Michael
Slenske, Anuradha Vikram)
2019
• Breadth, Good Luck Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (Curator: Jill Moniz)
• NGJ Summer Exhibition, National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica
2018
• African Civilisations: Continuous Creation of Humanity, Musée des
Civilizations Noires, Dakar, Senegal (Curator: Hamady Bocoum)
2017
2016
• Artists in Greater Los Angeles, Watts Towers Art Center, Los Angeles, CA
• Raíces y Símbolos Escondidios, Fundación Sebastián, Mexico City, Mexico
• From Other Lands, Avenue 50 Arts Gallery, Highland Park, CA
• Unzipping the Code, 18th Street Art Center, Santa Monica, CA 2015
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• 2020: Textures: The History and Art of Black Hair (Exhibition Catalogue), Ed. Tameka
Ellington, Kent State University Museum, Joseph L. Underwood
• 2020: Time at the Time of Isolation, Blurb.com, Organized by Cynthia Penna
• 2020: The Progressive Magazine, Paul Von Blum, Street Artists Rise to the Occasion,
Drive-By-Art Review
• 2020: KCET, Carol Cheh, Socially Distanced Drive-By-Art Exhibition Tackles Racism,
Provides Hope, Drive-By-Art Review
• 2020: The Art Newspaper, Matthew Stromberg, Pop-up Outdoor Art Shows in LA Fill
a Need for Real-Life Art Experiences, Drive-By-Art Review
• 2019: Daily Observer (Jamaica), Yvon Dias, J’can Flies the Flag High in Senegal
• 2016: United Nations Celebrating Childhood: A Journey to End Violence Against
Children, Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG)
• 2015: Visibly Invisible: Albinism in Tanzania, Jamaica and the USA Through the Eyes
of Yrneh Gabon Brown (Exhibition Catalog), California African American Museum
AWARDS
• 2023-24: Fulbright Fellowship to Botswana, Sub-Saharan Africa
• 2022: City of Santa Monica Artist Fellowship, Santa Monica, CA
• 2017: CCH Pounder Artist Travel Support Fellowship, Los Angeles, CA
• 2020: COVID-19 Relief Grant, Center for Cultural Innovation, Los Angeles, CA
• 2017: Otis College of Art and Design Fundación Sebastián Residency, Mexico City,
Mexico• 2016: James Irwin Foundation Individual
• Arts Grant, Otis College of Art and Design,
Los Angeles, CA
• 2013: Discovery Scholar, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
• 2012: National Coalition for 100 Black Women Inc.
SELECTED COLLECTORS OF ORIGINAL WORKS
• CCH Pounder Collection, New Orleans, LA, USA
• Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection, Palm Beach, USA
• Ava Duvernay, Los Angeles, CA, USA
• James Cameron, Los Angeles, CA, USA
• The Wright Collection, Pennsylvania, USA
• Norman Nickson and Debbie Allen, Los Angeles, CA, USA
• Museum of Black Civilization, Dakar, Senegal
• Museum Boribana, Dakar, Senegal
• Matter Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
• Ron Bechet, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
• Angela and John Weatherspoon, North Hollywood, CA, USA
• Dr. Joyce V. Simmons, Los Angeles, CA, USA
• Christopher McFalling, St. Andrews, Jamaica, WI
• Mutaburake, Kingston, Jamaica, WI
• Maxine Walter, St. Andrews, Jamaica, WI
• Dr. Beverly Bell, North Carolina, USA
Gloria Garriques, NY, New York, USA.
• Almarene Sampson, Long Island, New York, USA.
• David and Daryl Wright, North Carolina, USA
• Sol and Jenna Aponte, Los Angeles, CA, USA
• California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA
• Betye Saar, Los Angeles, CA, USA
• Xavier University, New Orleans, LA, USA
• Kelley Vlahakis Hanks, Orange County, CA, USA
• Miriam Moise, Martinique, WI
• Dear and Faiza Northland, Holland, Netherlands
• Joy Green, Little Haiti, Miami, FL, USA
• Todd Gray, Los Angeles, CA, USA
• Carol Levy, Venice, CA, USA
• Toni Patillo, Marina Del Rey, CA, USA.
• Lorraine Toussaint, New York, NY, USA
• The Watts Art Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
• Dr. Carolyn Cooper, St. Andrew, Jamaica, WI
• LA Metro Art, CA, USA
• Dr. Dawn Zain, Cape Town, South Africa
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