BIOGRAPHY

Thelonious Stokes (Chicago, 1995) is an artist based in Florence, Italy, whose practice spans painting, performance, installation, and writing. Through portraiture, he investigates the construction of identity, memory, and the ways in which personal and collective histories are formed, negotiated, and transmitted. Combining painterly observation, technical precision, and performative strategies, his work examines the intersections between the body, place, and cultural inheritance.

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Alongside his studio practice, Stokes engages with questions of education, language, and the circulation of knowledge through artistic exchange. His current research explores Blackness, geography, ritual, and the social dimensions of image-making, considering representation as both a cultural and political process. His work has been exhibited internationally and is held in both private and institutional collections.