About — cameron patricia downey

Cameron Patricia Downey is an anti-disciplinary artist born and raised in North Minneapolis, Minnesota whose work oscillates between photography, film, body, sculpture, curation and otherwise. The incidental, the precarious and the misremembered are central to these works which strive to archive, unfurl, make-altar-of and bring fantasy to the Blues of Black life and relation.

b. 1998, Minneapolis MN

Education

2026 MFA, Sculpture - Yale School of Art, New Haven CT

2021 BFA, Environmental Science and Visual art - Columbia University, New York NY

Solo Exhibitions

Hoard Ecstatic, T293, Rome IT - 2025

Super Deluxe, Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis MN - 2024 -2025

Orchid Blues, Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara CA - 2023

Lord Split Me Open, Hair+Nails, Minneapolis MN - 2023

Selected Group Exhibitions

Mar-a-Lago Face, Speilzug, New York NY - 2026

Heavy Hitters, Hair+Nails, Minneapolis MN - 2025

HAPPY NOW, Season 6 Episode 4, London UK - 2025

ROTATE, Hair+Nails, New York NY - 2025

Deviations, James Fuentes, New York NY - 2025

Doomscrolling, O32c Gallery, Berlin DE - 2025

The Unruly Dance of Form, Fragment, New York NY - 2025

Black Sun, Stada Gallery, New York NY - 2024

Deathpower, Law Warschaw Gallery, St. Paul MN - 2024

Felix Art Fair, H+N Gallery exhibiting artist, Los Angeles CA - 2024

Space Mapping, Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis MO - 2024

Intervention, NightClub Gallery, Minneapolis MN - 2023

MZ.25 (My Condolences), M+B Gallery, Los Angeles CA - 2023

NADA Art Fair booth, H+N Gallery, Miami FL - 2022

In The River, Midway Contemporary Gallery Off-Site, St. Paul MN - 2022

Intersections, Engage Projects Gallery, Chicago IL - 2021-2022

Wild Frictions: The Politics and Poetics of Interruption, Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin DE - 2021

The Human Scale, Rochester Art Center, Rochester MN - 2021

Three Things Last Forever, Hair and Nails Gallery, Minneapolis MN - 2020

FUTURE FUTURE, Hair and Nails Gallery, Minneapolis MN - 2020

Convergence, Convergence Space Gallery, Manhattan NY - 2018

These Streets Weren’t Paved For Tenderness, 25 East Gallery, Manhattan NY - 2018

Awards and Residencies

The Racial Imaginary Institute x Camargo Foundation, Cassis FR - 2026

Creating Futures Grant, Black Artist and Designers Guild - 2025

Summer Arts Fellow, Yale Peabody Museum, New Haven CT - 2025

Alice Kimball Travel Fellowship, Yale University - 2025

Artist in Residence, Loghaven Artist Residency, Knoxville TN - 2024

Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation MN Art Prize - 2023

Artist in Residence, Walker Art Center Mediatheque, Minneapolis MN - 2022-2023

Artist In Residence, Second Shift Studio Space, St. Paul MN - 2022-2023

Talks and Teaching

Guest Lecture, Picturing at the Peabody, Yale University, New Haven CT - 2026

Speaker, Falling into The Future: Kinetic Art at the End of The World, MCASB, Santa Barbara CA - 2025

Speaker, State of Black Design, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis MN - 2025

Guest Lecture, “Free Things”, Macalester College, St. Paul MN - 2025

Visiting Critic, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis MN - 2024

Teaching Artist in Residence, Juxtaposition Arts, Minneapolis MN - 2023-2024

Guest Lecture, Santa Barbara City College, Santa Barbara CA - 2023

Curatorial and Public Projects

Bus Stop Design Commission, Metro Transit, Minneapolis MN - 2024

Curator, In Other Miles, Public Functionary, Minneapolis MN - 2023

Curator and exhibiting artist, Holding Space, Hair and Nails Gallery, Minneapolis MN - 2020

Assistant Curator, Recourse: With Notes From Black Wall Street, Juxtaposition Arts, Minneapolis MN - 2018

Selected Bibliography

Steve Scarpa, “Artist Interview: Cameron Patricia Downey,” Yale Peabody Museum - 2025

William Van Meter, “Nightlife, Kinship and Queer Identity Collide in Oscar Yi Hou’s New Exhibition,” Art Net - 2025

Tara Kaushik, “Cameron Patricia Downey’s ‘Super Deluxe’ Toys With the Performance of Luxury,” Racket - 2025

Alicia Eler, “Top 10 Art Events in the Twin Cities in 2024”, Star Tribune - 2024

Morgan Becker, “Singing The Orchid Blues: Cameron Downey and Caroline Kent,” Document Journal - 2023

Michael Curran, “Cameron Downey: Lord Split Me Open,” Art Papers - 2023

Alex V Cipolle, “Lord Split Me Open: The Raw Art of Cameron Patricia Downey,” MPR News - 2023

Public Collections

Yale Peabody Museum, New Haven CT - 2025

Walker Art Center Visual Arts Permanent Collection, Minneapolis MN - 2023 b. 1998, Minneapolis MN