Courtney Zoa Brown (she/they) is an experimental visual artist, curator, and cultural facilitator based in Brooklyn, originally from the West Side of Chicago, Illinois. Their practice engages experimental and interdisciplinary forms across diasporic contexts, with a focus on sculptural, ritual, and spatial languages. Grounded in African-Diasporic sociality, Brown’s practice investigates how communities navigate displacement, archive lived experience, and build forms of resistance through embodied knowledge. Listening functions as both material and methodology in their curatorial approach.
Brown holds a BA in Art History and Africana Studies from Oberlin College. They have curated and programmed with institutions including the Art Institute of Chicago, Brooklyn Arts Council, South London Gallery, The Vilcek Foundation, and John St Gallery. Their notable projects include Through the Loop: Chicago’s Youth Artist Revolution at Jip Gallery (2021), a virtual exhibition exploring displacement, activism, and positionality within Chicago’s underground youth artist scene, and Firelei Báez: Sueño de la Madrugada (A Midnight’s Dream) at South London Gallery, co-curated as part of the inaugural 2023–24 New Curators international fellowship.
