Intisar Abioto | Lilla Jewel Award Maker

Pronouns: She / They

Intisar Abioto (b. Memphis, TN. 1986) is a movement artist working across photography, dance, and writing. Moving from the visionary and embodied root of Blackgirl Southern cross-temporal cross-modal storytelling ways, her works refer to the living breath/breadth of people of African descent against the expanse of their storied, geographic, and imaginative landscapes. ​Working in long-form projects that encompass the visual, folkloric, documentary, and performing arts, she has produced ​The People Could Fly Project​, ​The Black Portlanders​, and ​The Black​. Abioto’s publication ​Black Portlands ​documents interviews with Black Portlanders alongside her photographs. ​She was a contributing photographer to ​MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora​ (2017) and her photographs illustrated the Urban League of Portland’s ​State of Black Oregon 2015​. Alongside the five women artists in her family, she is the co-founder of Studio Abioto, a multivalent creative arts studio. ​She lives in Portland, Oregon.