Sariyah Benoit is a painter and digital artist. She works with communities to design memorials that reflect their history, identity, and concerns for climate adaptation. Through digital collage, painting, technical drawing, and 3D rendering, her work translates people’s strongest emotions tied to their ancestral land into immersive experiences that serve as spiritual, ecological, and trans- and inter- continental portals. Now based in the California Bay Area, she focuses on redesigning public open spaces that connect family stories of resistance and migration to provoke social change and reshape spatial politics and conditions.
SARIYAH NIKO BENOIT
EDUCATION
The University of California, Berkeley — Master of Landscape Architecture
Emory College of Arts & Science — Bachelor of Arts in African American Studies
AWARDS
2025 Thomas Church Award, second place
2024 Arcus Social Justice Fellowship
2024 Kindle Project Fund
2022 Foodwell Alliance Community Garden Grant
2021 Creative Action Fund Awardee. Laundromat Project.
2017 Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry Fellowship
2016 Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship
RESIDENCY & FELLOWSHIP
- 2024-2025 Inclusive Excellence Hub Fellowship
- 2023-2024 REMERGE Artist studio residency. Sweet Auburn, Atlanta, GA.
- 2023 Gist Yarn WEAVE Residency with Black Sheep Fiber Circle, Remote.
- 2022 SAAFON Fiber Arts Organizing Fellowship, High Hog Farm, Grayson, GA
- 2021 Indigo processing studio residency, Save Our Legacy Ourself, Sapelo Island, GA.
- 2019-2020 The Laundromat Project Fellowship, New York, NY.
TEACHING & PRODUCTION
- 2021 – 2024 Garden Specialist and Educator. Spelman College, Spelman Food Studies Program
- 2024 Educator. Plant Paint Alchemy workshop. Iwilla Remedy. Scottsdale, GA.
- 2024 Educator. Plant Paint workshop. Yes, Please Bookhouse and Carespace. Scottsdale, GA.
- 2024 Educator. Nature’s Palette workshop. REMERGE Art Studio in Sweet Auburn. Atlanta, GA.
- 2024 Educator. Eco-Painting workshop at Black Girl Plant Fest. Nourish Botanica. Atlanta, GA.
- 2023 Production Consultant for SolARTS Festival. West Atlanta Watershed Alliance. Atlanta, GA.
- 2022 Art and Gardening Summer Program Manager. East Point Housing Authority & Black Art in America Foundation. Atlanta, GA.
- 2019-2020 Facilitator. The People’s Studio @ Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). New York, NY.
- 2019-2020 Program Coordinator & Art Instructor. Thurgood Marshall Academy Lower School. New York, NY
- 2018 Educational Programs Intern. Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture. Charlotte, NC.
SOLO EXHIBITION
- 2023 “Breaking Seed Dormancy,” West Atlanta Watershed Alliance, Atlanta, GA.
GROUP EXHIBITION HISTORY
- 2023 West Atlanta Watershed Alliance, “SolARTS Festival” Atlanta, GA. The Gathering Spot, “Art & Jazz Gala” Atlanta, GA
- 2022 Hidden Gallery 333, “Rebirth” Atlanta, GA. Black Coffee ATL ,”Stacey Abrams, Pass The Mic to Women” Atlanta, GA. The WXLLXM, “The Art of Metanoia” Atlanta, GA. Ambient + Studio, “So Surreal Art” Atlanta, GA.
- 2021 Hidden Gallery 333, “The Awakening” Atlanta, GA. swm.nyc, “SWM” Brooklyn, NY
- 2020 FIT State University of New York, “Black in Time” New York, NY.
- 2019 Gotham Hall, “CFK Gala,” New York, NY. H-Loft, “Ratchet Opulence” New York, NY. Gallery House (Pratt Institute), “Remember Us” Brooklyn, NY. The Capitale, “The Regal Ball,” New York, NY. Davidson College, “R.O.O.T.S.” Davidson, NC.
NOTABLE COMMISSIONS
That 70’s mural (7ft x 40ft). The Met, Studios. Atlanta, GA. 2022.
3 sisters, 3 generations Mural (12ft x 9ft). National Black Food and Justice Alliance. Atlanta, GA. 2022.
East Point People Mural (5.5 x 30ft concrete). East Point MARTA Station. East Point, GA. 2022.
Spirit of Sapelo Mural (7 x 15ft). Sapelo Go Country Store. Sapelo Island, GA. 2021.
Love Learning Murals. P.S. 314x. Bronx, NY. 2020.
School Murals Project. Thaddeus Stevens P.S. 81. Brooklyn, NY. 2020.
Zora Neale Hurston Mural. Brighter Choice Community School. Brooklyn, NY. 2019
MEMBERSHIP:
ASLA, 2024
SAAFON, 2022
Black Sheep Fiber Circle, 2021
The Laundromat Project, 2019