Soliana has developed a praxis centered around the healing potential of rigorously pursuing curiosity and is deeply gratified by supporting teens as they synthesize their experiences and articulate their core values to themselves. Soliana began working with students on the admissions process while living in London, where they also advised college counselors across the UK through the Fulbright Commission. They have since worked with students around the world to craft beautifully-written and creative college applications. Soliana loves empowering students to tell their stories as authentically as possible, with their own language and style, and helping them find their voices. Being an artist has enabled Soliana to connect and collaborate with people from all over the world, and they bring that same enthusiasm for people and their stories to this work.

Soliana received their A.B. in English and American Literature from Harvard University before becoming enamored with darkroom photography at Parsons Paris. They went on to get an MA in Image and Communication from Goldsmiths and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where they were a recipient of the New Artist Society Award. Soliana now works with paint, plants, food, words, images, scent, movement, and sound to create richly textured self-portraits, sculptures, films, paintings, and collaborative group exercises. They perform and enact activations to invite ancestral-futuristic communication and patterns of freedom, promoting catharsis and conjuring Afro-presence. Their first book, save your selves, explores ways we’ve chosen to heal, and some of the reasons we needed to, through a collection of propositions, writings, and photographs (Irrelevant Press). Soliana has exhibited and participated in residencies in Ibiza, Addis Ababa, London, Milan, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and New York.