Datrianna Green-Meeks

Datrianna Green-Meeks is a Chicago-based contemporary artist whose studio practice examines the transition from performance to presence. Her figurative paintings look closely at the cycle of the mask: the effort it takes to keep it up, the vulnerability of a slip, and the liberation found in its absence. After earning an MFA in Interaction Design from the School of Visual Arts and spending over a decade as a human-centered product designer in Big Tech, she established a full-time studio practice, marking a deliberate shift to tactile storytelling.
Her painting practice investigates the societal expectations, perceptions, and invisible forces that prevent us from being fully present. Drawing directly from her background in the online safety space, her work captures the physical and mental toll of constant adaptation, chronicling the precise moments where we alter ourselves, flatten our cultural connections, and compress our creativity to fit environments that demand we hide in plain sight. Most recently, this practice led to two of her original paintings being selected and showcased in the Museum of Science and Industry’s Black Creativity Juried Art Exhibition.
By combining dynamic brushwork and intuitive color, she captures the fig...

Howard University, BBA, Marketing
School of Visual Arts, MFA, Interaction Design

Black Creativity Juried Exhibition - Museum of Science + Industry Chicago