Alexandra Bell
(b. 1983)Alexandra Bell’s speculative newspapers challenge notions that journalism should remain objective rather than advocating for certain issues or solutions.
Biography
Alexandra Bell saw herself pursuing a career in journalism before she turned her attention to art. Growing up in Chicago, she was impressed by the tone of the Chicago Defender, the historically Black newspaper. Since receiving her master’s degree in journalism, Bell has honed a public art practice that seeks to expose biases and offer revisions to journalistic coverage of current events.
Bell plasters, on various walls, large-scale redactions, omissions, and annotations to articles about sports, prison abolition, housing and wealth inequality, and other media information. This deconstruction of language and imagery in the public sphere investigates the tension between the experiences of marginalized people and dominant narratives of history, as well as the shaping and spread of misinformation. In Bell’s words, “This isn’t a grammar exercise. I’m really trying to see if I can disrupt subliminal messaging about who should be valued.” Her speculative newspapers challenge notions that journalism should remain objective rather than advocating for certain issues or solutions.
Bell earned her BA from the University of Chicago and her MS in journalism from Columbia University. She has received honors such as the International Center of Photography Infinity Award (2018); Soros Equality Fellowship (2018); and a Pioneer Works Residency (2021). She is also the recipient of the New York Artadia Award (2020) and Radcliffe Fellowship at Harvard University (2022). Her work first entered the Studio Museum’s collection in 2019.
Alexandra Bell
(b. 1983)Alexandra Bell’s speculative newspapers challenge notions that journalism should remain objective rather than advocating for certain issues or solutions.
Biography
Alexandra Bell saw herself pursuing a career in journalism before she turned her attention to art. Growing up in Chicago, she was impressed by the tone of the Chicago Defender, the historically Black newspaper. Since receiving her master’s degree in journalism, Bell has honed a public art practice that seeks to expose biases and offer revisions to journalistic coverage of current events.
Bell plasters, on various walls, large-scale redactions, omissions, and annotations to articles about sports, prison abolition, housing and wealth inequality, and other media information. This deconstruction of language and imagery in the public sphere investigates the tension between the experiences of marginalized people and dominant narratives of history, as well as the shaping and spread of misinformation. In Bell’s words, “This isn’t a grammar exercise. I’m really trying to see if I can disrupt subliminal messaging about who should be valued.” Her speculative newspapers challenge notions that journalism should remain objective rather than advocating for certain issues or solutions.
Bell earned her BA from the University of Chicago and her MS in journalism from Columbia University. She has received honors such as the International Center of Photography Infinity Award (2018); Soros Equality Fellowship (2018); and a Pioneer Works Residency (2021). She is also the recipient of the New York Artadia Award (2020) and Radcliffe Fellowship at Harvard University (2022). Her work first entered the Studio Museum’s collection in 2019.