Asa Iam storyteller who examines the world within our bodies; memory, emotion, and thought. Deeply interested in myths, religion and philosophy, she is fascinated by the way we enact meaning, and the ways in which it shapes our personal identity, society and culture. Her aspirations are psychological and metaphysical. She believes art is a portal into wellbeing, and experiments in the internal landscape will push forward human evolution. She starts with a nonvisual sense such as sound or touch then builds a visual landscape to replicate the internal experience. This is done with visual effects, scanning journals, personal photographs, transcribing conversations and documenting locations that hold significant sentimental value. The site of projection, video and installation is a sacred space where thoughts and feelings are anthropomorphized. For the stories we tell ourselves about our lives, the world, and other people impact the life we live. By utilizing the self-reflexive nature that is encourage is religion and spirituality, she is able to examine personal and societal development on a cosmic scale.
A Chicago, Illinois native, she graduated cum laude from Syracuse University’s Film and Media Arts program, where she was a Chicago Scholar and recipient of the Renee Crown Honors Research Grant and Gilman Scholarship. Her film Narcissus Revisited (2021) screened at the 2021 Syracuse International Film Festival, and her solo exhibition What She Inherited (2023) premiered at the Michael Sickler Gallery, integrating Afrofuturist ideals and African American traditions to explore mother–daughter relationships. In 2025, her project Ode to Joy was a finalist for the Urban Video Project Commission. Committed to accessible arts education, she’s worked with the Community Folk Art Center and the Red House Art Center.
I Am Asa Iam 