Kris Graves (b. 1982 New York, NY) is an artist and publisher based in New York and California. He received his BFA in visual arts from SUNY Purchase College, and has been published and exhibited globally—including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Getty Institute in Los Angeles, and the National Portrait Gallery in London, among others. Permanent collections include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Getty Institute, the Schomburg Center, the Whitney Museum, the Guggenheim, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Wedge Collection in Toronto, among others.
Graves creates artwork that deals with societal problems. He aims to use art as a means to inform people about cultural issues. He also works to elevate the representation of people of color in the fine art canon, and to create opportunities for conversation about race, representation, and urban life. Graves creates photographs of landscapes and people to preserve memory. He also sits on the board of Blue Sky Gallery: Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts in Portland, and The Architectural League of New York as vice president of photography.
Monuments examine passive relics of America’s racist past in the Confederacy, the dynamic changing of these landscapes, and who will be honored now.
Learn MoreJoin National Geographic photographers Philip Cheung, Kris Graves, and Daniella Zalcman in conversation with National Geographic Executive Editor Debra Adams Simmons, as they discuss their ongoing projects visualizing racist and discriminatory histories through a new lens.
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