MARTINE SYMS is an artist who has earned wide recognition for a practice that combines conceptual grit, humor, and social commentary.
Now Playing
The African Desperate Official Trailer, 2022
Rihanna for LV Mens SS, 2024
This Is A Studio, 2023
Maktub Gary Clark, 2024
The Non-Hero, 2021
On View
Seriously, Sprüth Magers, London, November 21, 2025 - January 31, 2026
Paradigm Shift, 180 Studios, London, October 15, 2025 - February 1, 2026
From Now: A Collection in Context, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, November 15, 2025 - August 16, 2026
No Title, Sculpture Milwaukee and Bronzeville Center for the Arts, Milwaukee, December 2025 - December 2026
Long Story Short, Museum Brandhorst, Munich, October 23, 2025 - January 31, 2027
Double Penetration with Martine Syms, NTS Radio, 2017 - 2025
88 Portal with Martine Syms, 1storypod, Episode 146, August 2025
The Astrology of The Modern-Day Hero's Journey with Martine Syms, Club Cosmos Radio, April 2025
Artist and Director Martine Syms on Discernment, Awkward Phases and Visibility, Deep Read, February 2025
The African Desperate streaming on MUBI!
Books
Total, Martine Syms, Éditions Lafayette Anticipations, 2024
Pictures, 2014-2017, Martine Syms, Climax Books, 2024
She Mad, Martine Syms, Sternberg Press; Bergen Kunsthall, 2024
Neural Swamp, Martine Syms, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Yale University Press, 2022
Borrowed Lady: Martine Syms, Amy Kazymerchyk, Christina Sharpe and Diamond Stingily, SFU Galleries, 2018
Contact
Who is she?
Martine Syms is one of the defining voices of her generation. She is an artist and director whose practice spans cinema, art, and theater. Her work has been exhibited widely at major institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the ICA London, and MOCA Chicago, and is held in significant public collections such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, Tate, the Guggenheim, LACMA, and the Walker Art Center. Alongside her institutional practice, she has undertaken commissioned projects with Louis Vuitton, LeBron James, H&M, Rihanna, Nike, Prada, and Bad Bunny.
Syms is the writer and director of The African Desperate, which premiered as the closing night film of New Directors/New Films and is distributed internationally by MUBI. She has been a featured speaker at SXSW, Yale University, and Google, and is a 2025 recipient of the Arts & Letters Award. Her honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Creative Capital Award, a United States Artists Fellowship, and the Future Fields Prize, among others. She has an upcoming exhibition at Sadie Coles HQ this September, which will be followed by a solo exhibition at MOCA Los Angeles in 2027. She is currently working on her next film.