Studio Museum in Harlem Debuts Inaugural Resident Cohort in New Building

Derriann Pharr's works anchor "A sustained becoming: Studio Museum Artists in Residence 2026," an exhibition showcasing the Studio Museum in Harlem's first resident cohort. The show occupies a spacious fourth-floor gallery within the institution's new 82,000-square-foot building in Harlem. Pharr works on paper with raw, frayed edges, rendering long, animalesque female figures. In "Squinching my eyes shut and wishing real hard (Honey's Dream)" (2026), she draws out the shape of a woman using scales, fur, flower petals, gossamer wings, and morning dewdrops. "Bring My Bones Home!" (2026) features a bulbous female figure coiled around a tiny creature in tender but watchful protection, with spiky sculptural elements protruding above her guardingly. Pharr's pieces converse with Simonette Quamina's indigo-hued dreamscapes and Taylor Simmons's intimate oil tableaux. Curatorial care is evident throughout the installation, which avoids crowding and allows each practice to breathe. The exhibition marks the inaugural resident cohort for the Studio Museum, presented in its new Harlem home.