
2021 Juanita J Craft Artist Residency Recipient
Inyang Essien is a visual artist working in the mediums of photography and digital media based in Dallas, Texas. She greatly appreciates the forgotten history of marginalized cultures and the on-going transformation that comes with coming into one’s identity. She strives to amplify these perspectives through her photography and places special emphasis on sharing stories that promote celebration of these backgrounds.
Since 2019, she has been a participant in 10 group shows, three of which took place in 2021, and one well-received solo exhibition for her series, “Idet”. In 2019, she earned first and third place in two Dallas-based photography competitions for “Idet”. In 2020, her food photography was featured in a BuzzFeed article. Also in 2020, her series “Our Rice” was selected as a finalist in the Photoville “The FENCE” traveling public art exhibition. Images from “Our Rice” have since received several inquiries from art collectors, appear in “In our Mother’s Gardens” documentary on Netflix, and will appear in other initiatives surrounding the context of the images. Recently, she was selected as a finalist in the Boynes Emerging Artist Competition.
Portfolio: https://www.inyangessien.com/