Tania L. Balan-Gaubert is an interdisciplinary conceptual artist, cultural producer, and writer based in Brooklyn, New York, on Lenapehoking land. Her practice weaves together personal narrative, diasporic memory, and speculative world-building, moving through histories of displacement and survival while envisioning new forms of belonging.
Born to Haitian parents on Council of the Three Fires and Miami lands of present-day Illinois, she was raised between Chicago’s South Side and Brooklyn’s Flatlands neighborhood. These geographies continue to shape her artistic practice, which is guided by Haitian, African, and Indigenous traditions. Working across mixed media, installation, photography, painting, and social practice, she assembles found objects, folklore, craft, and spirituality into hybrid forms that move between the material and immaterial. Her work creates spaces where ancestral memory intersects with contemporary experience and where imagination becomes a tool for reclamation and transformation.
Tania has exhibited in Chicago at the Haitian American Museum of Chicago (HAMOC), in New York at Haiti Cultural Exchange (HCX), the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI), the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art (MoCADA), CaribBEING House in residence at the Brooklyn Museum, and the Lefferts Historic House in Prospect Park. In San Francisco, her work has been presented at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD), San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI), and SOMArts Cultural Center. She has also developed collaborative projects and programs that bring artists and communities into dialogue around migration, memory, and the Caribbean diaspora. Tania is the founder of STR.DST.MRKT. (pronounced Stardust Market), a mobile art studio, gallery, and concept shop that transforms everyday spaces into hubs for creativity and cultural exchange, and serves as the Community Director of FORGOTTEN LANDS, a platform amplifying contemporary Caribbean diasporic voices, illuminating and archiving overlooked narratives through art, culture, and dialogue.
Tania earned her MFA in Fine Arts from California College of the Arts and her MA in African American Studies from Columbia University.
The cyber curation tanialaure.com is an endeavor of love, an evolving creative space, and Tania’s digital homeland.
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B. ON COUNCIL OF THE THREE FIRES AND MIAMI LANDS / CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
EDUCATION
2018 MFA, CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS, SAN FRANCISCO, CA
2012 MA, AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK, NY
2008 BA, PSYCHOLOGY, EARLHAM COLLEGE, RICHMOND, IN
2004 HSD, WHITNEY M. YOUNG MAGNET HIGH SCHOOL, CHICAGO, IL
EXHIBITIONS
2025
STR.DST.MRKT., LAKOU NOU CULMINATING EXPO SHOWCASE, HAITI CULTURAL EXCHANGE (HCX), CO-CURATED WITH LAURIE ZAMI GERMAIN, WATSON MERE, AND STEPHANIE PIERRE
2024
BYENVENI, CARIBBEAN CULTURAL CENTER AFRICAN DIASPORA INSTITUTE (CCCADI), CURATED BY YVENA DESPAGNE
NAN SAN, HAITIAN AMERICAN MUSEUM OF CHICAGO (HAMOC), CO-CURATED WITH WILLIAM L. BALAN-GAUBERT AND MAYA BALAN-GAUBERT GABRIEL
2023
BODIES, BRONX ARTSPACE, CURATED BY AMANDA M. JOHNSON
2021
AFROFUTURES: BEFORE AND BEYOND, THE DAVIS GALLERY AT HOUGHTON HOUSE, HOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGES, CURATED BY CHRISTINE GODING-DOTY, ANNA WAGER, AND ANGELIQUE SZYMANEK
2019
SA SE LAKAY, GHOST GALLERY, BROOKLYN, NY CURATED BY YVENA DESPAGNE
LET THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN, MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN DIASPORAN ART (MOCADA), BROOKLYN, NY
VANGUARD REVISITED: POETIC POLITICS & BLACK FUTURES, SAN FRANCISCO ART INSTITUTE (SFAI), SAN FRANCISCO, CA, CURATED BY LEILA WEEFUR
CARIBBEAN VERANDA, I AM CARIBBEING HOUSE AT LEFFERTS HISTORIC HOUSE IN PROSPECT PARK, BROOKLYN, NY
2018
BLACK NOW(HERE), MUSEUM OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA EMERGING ARTIST PROGRAM, SAN FRANCISCO, CA
A WELCOMING, I AM CARIBBEING HOUSE IN RESIDENCE AT THE BROOKLYN MUSEUM, BROOKLYN, NY
CCA COMMENCEMENT EXHIBITION, CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS, SAN FRANCISCO, CA
CCA MFA FINE ARTS THESIS EXHIBITION, MINNESOTA STREET PROJECT, SAN FRANCISCO, CA
2017
NIGHT LIGHT: DIVINE REVOLUTION, SOMARTS CULTURAL CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO, CA, CO-CURATED BY KAREN SENEFERU AND MELORRA GREEN
THE BLACK WOMAN IS GOD: DIVINE REVOLUTION, SOMARTS CULTURAL CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO, CA, CO-CURATED BY KAREN SENEFERU AND MELORRA GREEN
THE ALTAR: RITUALS OF HEALING IN THE AFRICAN DIASPORA, MYRTLE AVENUE BROOKLYN PARTNERSHIP, BROOKLYN, NY, CURATED BY SUHALY BAUTISTA-CAROLINA
2016
HARLEM IS...DANCE, MIST HARLEM, NEW YORK, NY, CURATED BY BARBARA HOROWITZ/COMMUNITY WORKS AND ÉLAN CADIZ-FERGUSON
A FOOTHOLD ON THE ROCKS: THE INDELIBLE LEGACIES OF JACOB AND GWENDOLYN KNIGHT LAWRENCE, EQUITY GALLERY, NYC, CURATED BY TANIA L. BALAN-GAUBERT
FAITH [IN]ACTION?, UNITED THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY OF THE TWIN CITIES, NEW BRIGHTON, MN, CURATED BY RODERIC SOUTHALL AND SHERYL SCHWYHART
2015
(RE)VISION: WHAT IS POST-BLACK ART, JAN BRANDT GALLERY, BLOOMINGTON, IL, CURATED BY VENISE KEYS
CURATORIAL PROJECTS / COLLABORATIONS
2024
NAN SAN, HAITIAN AMERICAN MUSEUM OF CHICAGO (HAMOC), CO-CURATED WITH WILLIAM L. BALAN-GAUBERT AND MAYA BALAN-GAUBERT GABRIEL
2021
FLAME FROM THE DARK TOWER, AS-IS GALLERY, LOS ANGELES, CA, CO-CURATED WITH 5/5 COLLECTIVE AND LEILA WEEFUR
2019
MOONSHOTS, NEW LIFE QUARTERLY, ISSUE 5, WOLFMAN BOOKS, OAKLAND CALIFORNIA, CONTRIBUTOR WITH 5/5 COLLECTIVE
BLACK NOW(HERE), CCA HUBBELL STREET GALLERIES PROJECT SPACE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA, CO-CURATED WITH 5/5 COLLECTIVE
2018
ANYBODY HOME? CTRL+SHFT COLLECTIVE, OAKLAND, CA, CO-CURATED WITH 5/5 COLLECTIVE
WEIGHT, TRAP(EZOID), CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS, SAN FRANCISCO, CA, CO-CURATED WITH 5/5 COLLECTIVE
2017
MEND, TRAP(EZOID), CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS, SAN FRANCISCO, CA, CO-CURATED WITH 5/5 COLLECTIVE
BLAXCESS TV, CCA HUBBELL STREET GALLERIES PROJECT SPACE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA, PERFORMANCE WITH 5/5 COLLECTIVE
ASCEND, TRAP(EZOID), CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS, SAN FRANCISCO, CA, CO-CURATED WITH 5/5 COLLECTIVE
2016
HOLD, TRAP(EZOID), CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS, SAN FRANCISCO, CA, CO-CURATED WITH 5/5 COLLECTIVE
UBUNTU, LA MAISON D'ART AND HARLEM ARTS FESTIVAL, NEW YORK, NY
WHO'S HARLEM? / WHOSE HARLEM?, LA MAISON D'ART AND HARLEM ARTS FESTIVAL, NEW YORK, NY
A FOOTHOLD ON THE ROCKS: THE INDELIBLE LEGACIES OF JACOB AND GWENDOLYN KNIGHT LAWRENCE, EQUITY GALLERY AND HARLEM ARTS FESTIVAL, NEW YORK, NY
2015
ART AS RESISTANCE, LA MAISON D’ART AND HARLEM ARTS FESTIVAL, NEW YORK, NY
RESIDENCIES
2024
HAITI CULTURAL EXCHANGE, LAKOU NOU ARTIST IN RESIDENCE, BROOKLYN, NY (OCT-MAY)
2020
THE GROWLERY, SAN FRANCISCO, CA (JAN-MAR)
2019
BEMIS CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, OMAHA, NA (SEP-NOV)
2018
MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN DIASPORAN ARTS (MOCADA), CREATOR IN RESIDENCE, GOVERNORS ISLAND, NY (JUN-AUG)
REAL TIME & SPACE, OAKLAND, CA (NOV+DEC)
2017
TRUDY BAILEY HUDSON RESIDENCY, CTRL+SHFT COLLECTIVE, OAKLAND, CA (MAY+JUN)
2016
S.P.A.C.E., SHAKLEE GALLERY - CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS, OAKLAND, CA (OCT)
PUBLICATIONS
2020
MOONSHOTS, NEW LIFE QUARTERLY, ISSUE 5: SUMMER 2019, WOLFMAN BOOKS, OAKLAND, CA
GRANTS & FELLOWSHIPS
2020
DARRYL CHAPPELL FOUNDATION, EMERGENCY RESPONSE GRANT RECIPIENT
HONORS & AWARDS
2018
MUSEUM OF AFRICAN DIASPORA (MOAD) EMERGING ARTISTS PROGRAM
HEADLANDS CENTER FOR THE ARTS GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP FINALIST
