Artist statement as of February 15, 2026
I employ a multimedia art practice, where my intention is to evoke critical interrogation into the makings and affects of identity in the modern world. By presupposing that my individual experience is enmeshed with the collective, I document my senses and observations through daily rituals of memory, writing, oration, sound and audiovisual recordings. These are oriented as data that I analyze through modes of painting, sculpture, performance, film and multimedia. The deployment and manipulation of said experiences is directed by mantric questioning of relationships– Who are you to yourself and to others? How are constructed identities: gender, race, physical and intellectual dis/ability operating in this context? What relationship between materials and gestures can I leverage? My works are often literally or figuratively annotated with past and present makers and thinkers to further situate my practice as not only my own but the world around me to challenge and acknowledge modern ways of being identified.
Biography
Derek Anthony Holland, MPH, MFA (Born in Montgomery, AL) is an artist and researcher raised between the suburbs of Washington, DC and Philadelphia, PA. Formerly, A Black Midwest Initiative Fellow and Access to Excellence Fellow at University of Illinois at Chicago. Derek has a background in public health research and earned a Master of Public Health (MPH) from Washington University in St. Louis where they worked on research projects with various health equity centered organizations in St. Louis, MO, Baltimore, MD, Philadelphia, PA and recently Chicago, IL. Derek’s art work has been written about in publications including Hyperallergic and has been featured on panel discussions and podcasts creating bridges between public health and visual arts. They have collaborated in publishing several peer reviewed public health articles in the Journal of Urban Health, Ethnic and Racial Studies and Journal of Healthy Eating and Active Living. Following this Derek earned their Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) from University of Illinois at Chicago and has participated in various group art exhibitions including at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, MO, Southside Contemporary in Richmond, VA, Blanc Gallery, Public Works Gallery, Jude Gallery, and Gallery 400 in Chicago, IL, as well as film screenings at Blanc Gallery and Soho House Chicago, and residencies in New York, USA, Berlin, DE and Ciudad de Guatemala, GT .