“I’m excited how this award celebrates and supports Reece’s commitment to her community through a radical art practice that tells their stories with thoughtfulness and care.”- Juror Anna Walker, Executive Director, Lawndale Art Center.

Irene Antonia Diane Reece, Born and raised in Houston, TX, identifies as a contemporary artist and visual activist. She earned her BFA in Photography and Digital Media (Houston, TX) and MFA in Photography and Image-making (Paris, France).

The topics surrounding her work are racial identity, African diaspora, social injustice, family histories, re-memory, mental and community health. With a background in photography and image-making Reece’s journey through lens-based work has transformed her art practice to become critical of the tools that we use to create art in an effort to decentralize whiteness, engage/deconstruct the violence of the camera, protecting Black archives and centralize/celebrate the complexities of the Black identities.