about/ statement/ Cv

About

Buchanan was born in Manhattan, NY. She holds an MFA from the Milton Avery Graduate School at Bard College and a BFA in Illustration from Parsons School of Design. Buchanan uses video, animation, photographs, illustrations, and drawings to create narratives of survival strategies. Buchanan’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at Syracuse International Film Festival, Studio Museum in Harlem, Site: Santa Fe, Slamdance International Film Festival, Hammer Museum/UCLA, Boite-en-Valise at the 57th Venice Biennale, Society of Illustrators,  Everson Museum of Art, Munson Williams Proctor Museum of Art, Urban Video Projects, Rochester Contemporary Art Center, Rencontres International Paris/Berlin among others. Buchanan co-founded Buckwheat Space 2019-2020, an artist residency in the Mojave Desert. She recently retired from Syracuse University and lives in Morongo Valley, California.

Artist Statement

In my video work, I use micro-narratives and fragments of histories; individual, family or community experiences of "otherness". My focus is often the black body as object, symbol and story, this embodiment of curiosity, and thus a "dark" and weighty presence.
I am interested in the coping strategies employed by Black communities to endure, including cultural expressions such as music and dance, athletic performance, religiosity, and other normative activities. The fragmented forms that I employ to shape these stories reflect the aggression that alters and constricts lives.