Sarah Biscarra Dilley (b. 1986, unceded Nisenan land, unratified Treaty “J” region) is a multidisciplinary artist, writer, educator, member of the yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini Northern Chumash tribe and Director of Indigenous Programs and Relationality at Forge Project.
Their practice is grounded in collaboration across experiences, communities, and place. Relating land and beings throughout nitspu tiłhin ktitʸu, the State of California, and places joined by shared water, their written and visual texts connect extractive industries, absent treaties, and enclosure to emphasize movement, relational landscapes and embodied sovereignties.
Their text-based, curatorial, educational, and visual work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Sites of engagement include: Smithsonian Institute, Whitney Museum of American Art, University of California (UCOP, Berkeley, Davis, Santa Barbara), California Polytechnic University (San Luis Obispo), SFMoMA, University of Minnesota Press, University of Queensland Art Gallery, California Historical Society, Institute of Modern Art (Brisbane), Artspace (Tāmaki Makaurau), Vancouver Art Gallery, and Creative Time.
While their foundation is shaped by body, land and kinships, they began their undergraduate studies at the Institute of American Indian Arts (Santa Fe, NM), have a BA in Urban Studies from the San Francisco Art Institute, and both an MA and PhD in Native American Studies from University of California, Davis.
tstʔɨnɨ yatsʔitʔɨnɨsmu tiłhinkʔtitʸu