About AJ Black (They/she)

AJ Black (b. 1997, Canada) is a queer multidisciplinary artist currently based out of Berlin. They work with spray paint, acrylic, found materials, photographs, videos, and paper mache. AJ’s work centres largely around the disconnect between the self and the body and the gaps that occur between the two.

AJ is a self-taught artist, dancer, & music-maker who uses movement as a means of bridging the gap between the mental and the physical. They are currently completing a residency at the Berlin Art Institute.

  • AJ Black

    In my work, self-expression is playful and violent. These attributes are often stifled or controlled and it is important for me to use art as a venue to rediscover them. I am a queer artist navigating the liminal spaces where identity, expression, and transformation collide. My work is a constantly evolving exploration of the intersections between the body, language, and the materials that surround us. Through spray paint, acrylic, found materials, dance, and music, I craft pieces that reflect the fluidity and complexity of my own lived reality as a queer individual. These mediums—each raw, dynamic, and deeply connected to the physical world—become vehicles for expressing the multiplicity of voices, stories, and emotions that have defined me.

    Spray paint and acrylic are my primary tools for giving form to the chaos and vibrancy of “the self”. The immediacy of spray paint allows me to create spontaneous, layered marks that speak to the urgency and power of self-expression. Dance and music serve as the living, breathing elements of my practice—embodying the emotional and sensory landscapes I attempt to capture with visual art. Movement becomes a language in itself, where my body becomes both subject and medium, blurring the lines between creation and performance. Music, often experimental and electronic, weaves its way through my work both as a necessity to the creative process and as a medium itself. Sound is a powerful agent that can shift perception, challenge conventions, and communicate what words alone cannot.

    My practice is not just about making art—it’s about making space for expression that is unapologetic. I am deeply invested in questioning normative structures and celebrating the beauty of fluidity, ambiguity, and contradiction - engaging with the discomfort and the freedom that comes from constantly reimagining what identity can be.

    In a world that often demands neat categories, my art is a celebration of multiplicity. It is about embracing what is discarded, what is fragmented, and what is yet to be made. It is an exploration of the chaotic beauty of being alive, of being queer, and of creating something new from the intersections of past, present, and future.

  • ajblack.113@gmail.com

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