(EH-LEE-SHA EP-STEEN)

Photo by Sana Javeri Kadri
Elicia Epstein's (she/they) practice explores the intersections of spiritual and political realities in efforts to move all beings toward collective liberation.
Elicia's work is creatively unrestrained, ranging from sculpture and installation, to documentary photography and video, performance, publication and collage. The objects and experiences Elicia creates serve as visual, physical and spiritual interventions. She seeks to engage with the communities around her, question the world’s order, and rewrite the narratives that hold it together.
Magic, whimsy and "nonsense" are essential to Elicia's life and art practice.
CV
b. Wôpanâak (Wampanoag) and Pawtucket Land (Boston, MA), 1992
Most recently based in Oakland, California
Currently nomadic
EDUCATION
2015 BA in Studio Art and Media Studies, Pomona College, Claremont, CA
2013 Documentary Photography and Multimedia Storytelling, Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, Portland, ME
AWARDS / GRANTS / RESIDENCIES
2020 Elsewhere Museum Artist Residency
Greensboro, NC
2019 Hemera Foundation Contemplative Fellowship
2019 Filmaker-in-Residence, Selina Film Program
Oaxaca, Mexico
2019 Selected artist, Convocatoria Ruta de Galerias, Casa Poligono
Mexico City, Mexico
2019 Casa Lu
Mexico City, Mexico
2018 Creative Arts Mobility Project (CAMP) Residency
Northport, Washington
2018 1st Place Juror Award, 5th Annual Juried Art Exhibition at Piedmont Center for the Arts
Curated by Carin Adams, Associate Curator, Art and Material Culture, Oakland Museum of California, and Jenny Gheith, Assistant Curator of Painting and Sculpture, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
2017 Intern Artist Resident
Franconia Sculpture Park, Shafer, Minnesota
2015 Filmmaker-In-Residence
Conservation Media Group, Camden, Maine
2014 Summer Experience in the Arts Grant
Mellon Foundation
2013 Arts Inspiration Grant
Mellon Foundation
PUBLICATION (ABOUT + INCLUDED IN)
2018 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Instagram, Submission Friday
2018 East Bay Express. Sannidhi Shukla. “Futurescape Spells Project Brings Public Art Installation to Oakland Billboards”
2018 Juxtapoz Magazine Online. Four Artists Take Over Oakland Billboards For the “Futurescape Spells Projects”
2018 East Bay Times. Sarah Tan. “Emerging artists honored at fifth annual Juried Art Show in Piedmont”
2017 Strant Magazine Online. “Pictures Without Words”
2016 Rûm Magazine, Issue I
2014 Landlocked Photo. “Creatures of Habit” Photobook. Part of the Indie Photobook Library at the Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
2014 The American Guide. “Rural Life” Photobook
PUBLICATION (AUTHORED)
2016 Juxtapoz Magazine, Issue 190 (2016): 18-20. “Bruce Conner Comes Home.”
2016 Juxtapoz Magazine Online “Michael Parker’s Steam Work – Interview.” 2015
2014 Proximity Magazine Online. “Life of a Liveaboard" photo essay
2014 Bokeh Magazine Online. “The Courts at Portland’s Projects” photo essay
2014 The American Guide Online. “Witchcraft – Maine” photo essay
FILM
2020 Director / Editor / Producer
“Rulebreakers: The shepherd and the settler” (3 mins)
BBC World Service, with funding from the Sundance Institute
Viewable at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08t23vt
2018 Assistant Director
“Waking Hour” (13 mins), directed by Nava Mau and produced by Chloe Webster
Screened at: Youthmundus Festival (Rome, Italy), Trans Stellar Film Festival (Detroit, MI), QFilm Festival (Long Beach, CA), Visible Festival de Cine (Panama City, Panama), North Carolina Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (Durham, NC), QFest: Houston International LGBTQ Film Festival (Houston, TX), Encuentro: Reconstructing Our Health (Atlanta, GA), Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco, CA), Hella Gay Short Film Fest (Oakland, CA), Queer Women of Color Film Festival (San Francisco, CA), Inside Out Film Festival (Toronto, ON), Translations: Seattle Transgender Film Festival (Seattle, WA), Reel Out (Charlotte, NC), Outfest Fusion (Los Angeles, CA)
2016 Director / Editor / Producer
“Tracing the Pass” Documentary (25 mins / 49 mins Director’s Cut)
Conservation Media Group
Viewable at: https://www.conservationmediagroup.org/grantee/elicia-epstein-tracing-pass
Screened at: Tillotson Center for the Arts (Colebrook, NH), Colonial Theatre (Bethlehem, NH), Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests (Concord, NH)
2013 Director / Editor / Producer
“The Coven” (4 mins)
The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
Viewable at: https://vimeo.com/81904238
Screened at: The Salt Institute (Portland, ME)
SOLO + 2-PERSON EXHIBITION
2019 Moving Still, Elicia Epstein and Cathy Abitbol, Kino at Cine Tonala, Mexico City, Mexico (curated by Gonzalo de Benito and Julia Ruiz-Cabello)
2018 Roller Coast, a solo show, Adelines Lab Gallery, Berkeley, CA
SELECTED EXHIBITION
2021 Hella Feminist: An Exhibition, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA
2019 Ruta de Galerias Gallery Walk, Casa Poligono, Mexico City, Mexico
2019 Primera Lectura, Casa Lu Parque Hundido Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico
2018 Orium II, Aggregate Space Gallery, Oakland, CA
2018 Under the Surface, Adelines Lab, Berkeley, CA
2018 Room for Thought with Pacific Rim Sculptors, Space 151, San Francisco, CA (curated by Jack Fischer of the Jack Fischer Gallery)
2018 Left Coast Annual, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA (curated by Claudia Schmuckli, Curator-in-Charge, Contemporary Art and Programming, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco)
2017 5th Annual Juried Art Show, Piedmont Center for the Arts, Piedmont, CA (curated by Carin Adams, Associate Curator, Art and Material Culture, Oakland Museum of California, and Jenny Gheith, Assistant Curator of Painting and Sculpture, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art)
2017 Year of the Dog, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, CA (curated by Amy Owens and Kara Smith of the DiRosa Museum in Napa, CA)
2017 Steel sculpture "Rumble Tumble Yonder Bumble" on view at Franconia Sculpture Park, Shafer, MN
2015 Looking at Appalachia, ongoing online photography exhibition (curated by Roger May)
2015 Scantron, Chan Gallery, Claremont, CA
2015 Trilateral Arts Show, dA Center for the Arts, Pomona, CA
2015 Inland (co-curator), Chan Gallery, Claremont, CA
2015 Picture Books, Duke University Power Plant Gallery, Durham, NC