Jae Southerland is a working class queer visual artist, graphic designer, and higher education worker from North Carolina currently living and working in so-called Western Massachusetts on the ancestral homeland of the Pocumtuc people. They received an AAS in Graphic Design from GTCC in Jamestown, NC (2009), and a BA in History from UNCG in Greensboro, NC (2006).
Their creative practice has included painting, zine making, sculpture, interactive installation, photography, video, writing, and graphic design. More recently, they began working with tulle and other textiles to create small adornments, sculptural pieces, and site-specific installations.
In 2022, Southerland created their first interactive public work, where we dream–an outdoor installation made with hand-dyed tulle and reclaimed wood, constructed on the beach at Laurel Lake in Erving, Massachusetts. The piece was dedicated to the transgender community and part of the Survivor Art Collective’s annual Queer Trans Beach Day. In May 2023, they held their first solo showing of work, tender fortress, as part of an ARC 2023 residency at A.P.E. Ltd Gallery in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Their first two-person show, there’s nothing wrong with love, with friend and collaborator Sunny Allis, was in June 2025 at Northampton Center for the Arts. Jae has two upcoming shows: September 2026 at Waterway Arts in Turners Falls, MA, and March 2027 at Hosmer Gallery in Northampton, MA.
CONTACT
artist.jaesoutherland[at]gmail[dot]com