Lenapehoking (Brooklyn,NY)-based interdisciplinary artist, curator, and writer Tania L. Balan-Gaubert’s work explores race, transnational identity, culture, and belonging through photography, mixed media, installation, and video.

Born on Council of the Three Fires and Miami lands (Illinois) to Haitian parents, Balan-Gaubert was raised between Chicago’s southside and the Flatlands neighborhood of Brooklyn on Lenapehoking land (New York). Guided by Haitian, African, and Indigenous-based cultural traditions, Balan-Gaubert creates works that are caught between several realms. She combines personal stories, folklore, images, found and ready-made objects, and spirituality with craft materials to construct hybrid works.

Balan-Gaubert earned her MFA from California College of the Arts in 2018 and her MA in African American Studies from Columbia University in 2012. She has exhibited in Chicago at the Haitian American Museum of Chicago (HAMOC), in New York at the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI), Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art (MoCADA), CaribBEING House in residence at the Brooklyn Museum, Lefferts Historic House in Prospect Park, and in San Francisco at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD), San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI), and SOMArts Cultural Center.

The cyber curation tanialaure.com is an endeavor of love, an evolving creative space, and Tania Laure’s digital homeland. 

 
 
 

B.  ON COUNCIL OF THE THREE FIRES AND MIAMI LANDS / CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

EDUCATION

2018 MFA, CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 

2012 MA, AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK, NY

2008 BA, PSYCHOLOGY, EARLHAM COLLEGE, RICHMOND, IN

2004 HSD, WHITNEY M. YOUNG MAGNET HIGH SCHOOL, CHICAGO, IL


EXHIBITIONS

2024

BYENVENI, CARIBBEAN CULTURAL CENTER AFRICAN DIASPORA INSTITUTE (CCCADI), CURATED BY YVENA DESPAGNE

NAN SAN, HAITIAN AMERICAN MUSEUM OF CHICAGO (HAMOC), CO-CURATED WITH WILLIAM L. BALAN-GAUBERT AND MAYA BALAN-GAUBERT GABRIEL

2023

BODIES, BRONX ARTSPACE, CURATED BY AMANDA M. JOHNSON

2021

AFROFUTURES: BEFORE AND BEYOND, THE DAVIS GALLERY AT HOUGHTON HOUSE, HOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGES, CURATED BY CHRISTINE GODING-DOTY, ANNA WAGER, AND ANGELIQUE SZYMANEK

2019

SA SE LAKAY, GHOST GALLERY, BROOKLYN, NY CURATED BY YVENA DESPAGNE

LET THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN, MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN DIASPORAN ART (MOCADA), BROOKLYN, NY

VANGUARD REVISITED: POETIC POLITICS & BLACK FUTURES, SAN FRANCISCO ART INSTITUTE (SFAI), SAN FRANCISCO, CA, CURATED BY LEILA WEEFUR

CARIBBEAN VERANDA, CARIBBEING HOUSE AT LEFFERTS HISTORIC HOUSE IN PROSPECT PARK, BROOKLYN, NY

2018

BLACK NOW(HERE), MUSEUM OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA EMERGING ARTIST PROGRAM, SAN FRANCISCO, CA

A WELCOMING, CARIBBEING HOUSE IN RESIDENCE AT THE BROOKLYN MUSEUM, BROOKLYN, NY

CCA COMMENCEMENT EXHIBITION, CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS, SAN FRANCISCO, CA

CCA MFA FINE ARTS THESIS EXHIBITION, MINNESOTA STREET PROJECT, SAN FRANCISCO, CA

2017

NIGHT LIGHT: DIVINE REVOLUTIONSOMARTS CULTURAL CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO, CA, CO-CURATED BY KAREN SENEFERU AND MELORRA GREEN

THE BLACK WOMAN IS GOD: DIVINE REVOLUTION, SOMARTS CULTURAL CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO, CA, CO-CURATED BY KAREN SENEFERU AND MELORRA GREEN

THE ALTAR: RITUALS OF HEALING IN THE AFRICAN DIASPORA, MYRTLE AVENUE BROOKLYN PARTNERSHIP, BROOKLYN, NY, CURATED BY SUHALY BAUTISTA-CAROLINA

2016

HARLEM IS...DANCE, MIST HARLEM, NEW YORK, NY, CURATED BY BARBARA HOROWITZ/COMMUNITY WORKS AND ÉLAN CADIZ-FERGUSON

A FOOTHOLD ON THE ROCKS: THE INDELIBLE LEGACIES OF JACOB AND GWENDOLYN KNIGHT LAWRENCE, EQUITY GALLERY, NYC, CURATED BY TANIA L. BALAN-GAUBERT

FAITH [IN]ACTION?, UNITED THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY OF THE TWIN CITIES, NEW BRIGHTON, MN, CURATED BY RODERIC SOUTHALL AND SHERYL SCHWYHART

2015

(RE)VISION: WHAT IS POST-BLACK ART, JAN BRANDT GALLERY, BLOOMINGTON, IL, CURATED BY VENISE KEYS

CURATORIAL PROJECTS / COLLABORATIONS

2024

NAN SAN, HAITIAN AMERICAN MUSEUM OF CHICAGO (HAMOC), CO-CURATED WITH WILLIAM L. BALAN-GAUBERT AND MAYA BALAN-GAUBERT GABRIEL

2021

FLAME FROM THE DARK TOWER, AS-IS GALLERY, LOS ANGELES, CA, CO-CURATED WITH 5/5 COLLECTIVE AND LEILA WEEFUR

2019

MOONSHOTS, NEW LIFE QUARTERLY, ISSUE 5, WOLFMAN BOOKS, OAKLAND CALIFORNIA, CONTRIBUTOR WITH 5/5 COLLECTIVE

BLACK NOW(HERE), CCA HUBBELL STREET GALLERIES PROJECT SPACE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA, CO-CURATED WITH 5/5 COLLECTIVE

2018

ANYBODY HOME? CTRL+SHFT COLLECTIVE, OAKLAND, CA, CO-CURATED WITH 5/5 COLLECTIVE

WEIGHT,  TRAP(EZOID), CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS, SAN FRANCISCO, CA, CO-CURATED WITH 5/5 COLLECTIVE

2017

MEND, TRAP(EZOID), CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS, SAN FRANCISCO, CA, CO-CURATED WITH 5/5 COLLECTIVE

BLAXCESS TV, CCA HUBBELL STREET GALLERIES PROJECT SPACE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA, PERFORMANCE WITH 5/5 COLLECTIVE

ASCEND, TRAP(EZOID), CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS, SAN FRANCISCO, CA, CO-CURATED WITH 5/5 COLLECTIVE

2016

HOLD, TRAP(EZOID),  CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS, SAN FRANCISCO, CA, CO-CURATED WITH 5/5 COLLECTIVE

UBUNTU, LA MAISON D'ART AND HARLEM ARTS FESTIVAL, NEW YORK, NY

WHO'S HARLEM? / WHOSE HARLEM?, LA MAISON D'ART AND HARLEM ARTS FESTIVAL, NEW YORK, NY

A FOOTHOLD ON THE ROCKS: THE INDELIBLE LEGACIES OF JACOB AND GWENDOLYN KNIGHT LAWRENCE, EQUITY GALLERY AND HARLEM ARTS FESTIVAL, NEW YORK, NY

2015

ART AS RESISTANCE, LA MAISON D’ART AND HARLEM ARTS FESTIVAL, NEW YORK, NY

RESIDENCIES

2024

HAITI CULTURAL EXCHANGE, LAKOU NOU ARTIST IN RESIDENCE, BROOKLYN, NY (OCT-MAY)

2020

THE GROWLERY, SAN FRANCISCO, CA (JAN-MAR)

2019

BEMIS CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, OMAHA, NA (SEP-NOV)

2018

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN DIASPORAN ARTS (MOCADA), CREATOR IN RESIDENCE, GOVERNORS ISLAND, NY (JUN-AUG) 

REAL TIME & SPACE, OAKLAND, CA (NOV+DEC) 

2017

TRUDY BAILEY HUDSON RESIDENCY, CTRL+SHFT COLLECTIVE, OAKLAND, CA (MAY+JUN)

2016

S.P.A.C.E., SHAKLEE GALLERY - CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS, OAKLAND, CA (OCT)

PUBLICATIONS

2020

MOONSHOTS, NEW LIFE QUARTERLY, ISSUE 5: SUMMER 2019, WOLFMAN BOOKS, OAKLAND, CA

GRANTS & FELLOWSHIPS

2020

DARRYL CHAPPELL FOUNDATION, EMERGENCY RESPONSE GRANT RECIPIENT

HONORS & AWARDS

2018

MUSEUM OF AFRICAN DIASPORA (MOAD) EMERGING ARTISTS PROGRAM

HEADLANDS CENTER FOR THE ARTS GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP FINALIST