Please join us for a hybrid artist talk by Petra Floyd. This talk is part of the Art + Data series, sponsored by the Sara Fine Institute.

Petra Floyd is a Liberian-American post-disciplinary artist and designer raised by working-class immigrants in Philadelphia. They live and work in Pittsburgh, and wherever they’re invited to make something fantastic happen.

Post-disciplinary means Petra does whatever they want, however they want, ideally cracking themself up during their process. Petra values improvised, devised, and collaborative modes of making and thinking. Their practice is social and playful; Petra links up with other instigator-activators to craft moments and performances using close-at-hand materials. Ongoing projects include: Seeds and Sounds, an exploration of the intersections of sound art and agriculture by growing hardshell gourds to craft into musical instruments; and Audio.belisk, a collaborative sonification of the public sculpture Five Factors by Pittsburgh artist Peter Calaboyias.

Petra graduated from Carnegie Mellon University School of Art’s MFA program in 2022. They are a 2022-2023 recipient of The Heinz Endowment’s Creative Development and The Pittsburgh Foundation’s Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh awards. Petra was 2023-2024 BLK ART Lab resident at Protohaven and is a member of The Greater Pittsburgh Art Council’s Black Arts Action Committee and the Pittsburgh Creative Corps.

They chronicle and their creative practice in their newsletter, their website, and Instagram.