Qiaira Riley is an interdisciplinary artist + educator +cultural worker, raised on Chicago’s south-side and based in Philadelphia. She holds a dual B.A. in Black Studies and Studio Art from Lake Forest College, as well as an M.F.A in Socially Engaged Studio Art from Moore College of Art & Design. She is a co-founder and curator of 2.0, a collective collaborating with artists and organizations to curate free, experimental offerings for Black women and femmes. Qiaira’s 2021 MFA thesis-turned-zine “How Tiffany Pollard Built the Internet: Representations of Simulacra, Virtuality, and Black women and femmes on the Internet and Its Art” is a part of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Joan Flasch Artists' Book Collection. Her studio work has been shown across the United States including Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, IL;  Cherry Street Pier, Paradigm Gallery, and Public Trust in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Qiaira has enjoyed residencies with the Wedding Cake House in Providence, RI; Ma’s House on the Shinnecock Reservation, NY; and Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia, PA. As a part of her socially-engaged creative practice, Qiaira has had awards from and collaborations with the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Barnes Foundation, Mural Arts, Monument Lab and the Leeway Foundation. She also hosts "Something You Can Feel," a contemporary Black art history podcast, that can be found on Apple and Spotify. Recently , Qiaira was the community artist partner collaborating with The Friends of the Tanner House to curate a series of multi-generational arts programming  uplifting the family and home of artist Henry O. Tanner and its urgent stabilization efforts.  You can find her CV here.