TARIQA WATERS
One of Seattle Magazine's most influential artists, born in Richmond Virginia, Tariqa Waters innovative practice masterfully commands space through her use of mixed-media tableaus, paintings, photographs, film and whimsical immersive installations. Her technicolor characterizations of multigenerational commercial references reclaim a sincere aesthetic steeped in effortless regality and proudly celebrated traditions. Waters’ work has exhibited in numerous galleries and featured in Rolling Stone France and Madame Figaro magazines. Solo exhibitions of her work have been organized at The Hedreen Gallery, [2014]; Northwest African American Museum, Seattle, WA (2016); and her 5 part glass immersive installation at The Museum of Museums, Seattle, WA [2023]. Waters has been awarded multiple prizes and grants, including the 2016 Conductive-Garboil Grant. The Artist-Trust- Fellowship Award [2018]; The Seattle Art Museum’s Kayla Skinner Special Recognition Award [2020]; The Gary Glant Special Recognition Award [2021]; The Neddy at Cornish Open Medium Award [2020]; Arts Innovative Award [2023]; and The Betty Bowen Award [2023].
gum baby
4th
sUNDAY
Julia
Over the years, the art of storytelling has served as a resourceful tool within the evolution of my work. When I sit and think about my journey as a Black woman and mother in an inequitable art market, I often find myself developing innovative ways to lampoon and defy generalizations that doubt my capabilities. Whether sustaining a decade-long, renowned, conceptual brick & mortar community-based art installation called, Martyr Sauce or shapeshifting said brick & mortar into a television show called, Thank You, MS PAM on The Seattle Channel celebrating artists, creatives, and small businesses around the PNW, or evolving my preferred medium from oil painting to motorized large-scale immersive fabrications and blown glass, I’ve never shied away from taking risks. Humor, satire and spectacle are prevalent in most of my works, but I always aspire for the work to resonate as very personal and sincere; Made evident as the first artist ever commissioned in historic Pioneer Square to design a crosswalk, in which I reimagined the traditional white lines and replaced them with vibrant, colorful afro picks, bringing a tangible sense of inclusion and community to the neighborhood. In my self-portrait work, the women and men from my upbringing are lauded as muses blurring the line between feminine and masculine. To underscore their stories and elevate them out of the margins, I’ve excelled in genre-bending traditional pop aesthetics within photography, film, three-dimensional installations, and large-scale fabrications that I construct by hand; The anachronisms in these candy-colored tableaus showcase stand alone pieces in an attempt to subvert the ubiquitous co-option of my culture, redefine consumerism, and expose the sticky contradictions and dualities inherent in vices rooted in Americana-distorted memories and tall tales.
bts
the making
 NONO by Tariqa Waters 2019 Mixed Media Installation |  Quilted NorthernQuilted Northern, 2018, L96”xH96"xW48" mixed media installation- Bellevue Art Museum, Bellwether, 2018 |  What?! BruhWhat?! Bruh, 2021, 30"x40" mixed media installation, self portrait. Crowd Within: 2020 Neddy at Cornish Exhibition, Permanent collection of The Behnke Foundation |  deadbeatdeadbeat, 2016, 48"x48" mixed media, self portrait. 100% Kanekalon: The Untold Story of the Marginalized Matriarch solo exhibition at The Northwest African American Museum, 2016 |  100%Kanekalon100%Kanekalon: The Untold Story of the Marginalized Matriarch - Northwest African American Museum 2016 |
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 Protection OrderMix media self portrait - 100% Kanekalon: The Untold Story of the Marginalized Matriarch. Northwest African American Museum 2016 |  100%Kanekalon100%Kanekalon: The Untold Story of the Marginalized Matriarch - Northwest African American Museum 2016 |  Martyr Sauce CrosswalkTariqa Water’s Martyr Sauce Crosswalk, Historic District Pioneer Square, Office of Arts & Culture and Seattle Department of Transportation, 2022 |  BlowBlow 2018 Splitting Image Seattle Art Museum Gallery 2018, CitizenM Hotel Permanent Collection 2020 |  Ride Sandy Ride 2018 |
 Sale PriceSale Price 2017 Splitting Image Seattle Art Museum Gallery 2018 |  For HarrietFor Harriet 2020 Graphic Mural Installation- The Paramount Theatre |  Crowd PleaserCrowd Pleaser 2018 - Permanent Collection Commissioned by The Paramount Theatre 90th Celebration |  That's All FolksThat's All Folks 2018-Permanent Collection Commissioned by The Paramount Theatre 90th Celebration |  Ball barrettes, Bonkers, & Bubblicious, oh my!Mixed media installation |
 Martyr Sauce x Spain |  Martyr Sauce- The StrangerThe Stranger Cover Art: Print Edition for the week of Jan. 8 - 14, 2014 Vol. 23, No. 19 cover-400 |  How You See Me, How You Don'tThe Stranger Cover Art: Print Edition for the week of Sep. 21 - 27, 2016 cover0921 |  White NoisePrint Edition for the week of Jun. 17 - 23, 2015 cover-570 |  Martyr Sauce x SpainPublic Display Inaugural Issue 11-24-2021 |
 The Call BackThe Call Back 2020 Vinyl Text Mural Yellow No. 5 Exhibition- Bellevue Arts Museum |