Maria Joranko

Maria Joranko is an artist that is unapologetic about (re)claiming space. Much of her work is community-driven and about making space through outdoor immersive installations for and by QTBIPOC people to gather and experience a world where the community doesn't have to be subjected to the unacceptable conditions of systemic oppression, death, constant threat, and surveillance. Through the principles of guardianship and inclusion, and with reflections on the power of choice, Joranko creates alternate realities to invoke the experience of exemption from conditions of oppression. As a consequence of colonialism, she is tired of being told that she is at the mercy of “greater powers” that dictate the fate of herself and others like her. Through her experiences as a queer Latinx woman, connections to the past and future, and through absorbing elements of pop culture, she questions the colonial agenda and the world it creates. Joranko is based in London and her current favorite authors are N.K. Jemisen, Octavia Butler, and Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

Joranko is pursuing her MFA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths, University of London, from which she will graduate in 2022. She holds bachelor degrees in Studio Art and Art History from University of Mary Washington. Through her career, she has exhibited nationally and activated several non-art spaces such as Fresh Town Farms and the Millworks lots in Columbus, Ohio through her installation interventions and engagement with her community. You can find her writing and interviews on artists LaToya Ruby Frazier, Fiona Apple, and Cecilia Vicuña on the Wexner Center for the Arts blog Read, Watch, Listen.

Image: 

Maria Joranko, Every night we are the stars, 2021

Digital Video/Projection

Courtesy of the artist