Diana Sinclair

b. 2004, Greenwich, CT

Diana Sinclair is an interdisciplinary artist and researcher based in Jersey City, NJ. Her practice examines Black identity, water and memory through lens-based media, printmaking and installation. Engaging both historical inquiry and material experimentation, she explores the spiritual and physical dimensions of water as a site of trauma, resistance and transformation.

Sinclair’s work investigates the transatlantic slave trade, Black aquatic traditions, and the racialized history of pool segregation in the U.S.—a subject shaped by her seven years as a competitive swimmer. Consulting with historians Kevin Dawson and Jeff Wiltse, she traces the exclusion of Black communities from water spaces and its generational impact. Works like De/Recomposition and Containment employ cyanotypes, Polaroids and organic materials to explore saltwater’s role in both preservation and erasure.

Sinclair was a resident at Silver Art Projects at the World Trade Center, New York, 2024-2025. Her work has been exhibited at PLATO (New York), All Street Gallery (New York), Residency Art Gallery (Los Angeles) and Naranjo 141 (Mexico City). She was awarded the Gemma Projects Inaugural Curatorial Grant (2023), and her public installation Reflections was on view at Rockefeller Center (2023–2024).

While Sinclair’s current work is grounded in physical materials, it was her early digital work that laid the foundation for her engagement with storytelling and collective memory. Collaborations with the Whitney Houston Foundation and large-scale public installations, including her Rockefeller Center commission, reflect her ongoing interest in how technology and immersive environments bridge historical and contemporary narratives.