Kiani Kodama is an artist, ceramicist, and educator based in Brooklyn, New York. She earned her BFA at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in 2020 and studied at Kyoto Seika University in 2018. Kodama’s work has been exhibited throughout New York and Japan. She is currently a member of Trestle Art Space in Brooklyn, NY.
Alongside her studio practice, Kodama is an organizer and advisor of exhibitions and public programming throughout New York. She has collaborated with organizations such as Children's Museum of Manhattan, Brooklyn Children's Museum, Brooklyn Public Library, The Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Chinese American Association, NYC Department of Education, and the Lenape Center.
Kodama's work abandons the boundaries of verbal language and harnesses alternative modes of communication. Inspired by reflexology objects as a negotiation between external pressures and inner anatomy and Japanese Buddhist rituals that honor the deceased, Kodama composes her drawings and sculptures through the placement and orientation of various cultural materials. She mediates the shifting distance and proximity of spirits while forming connections with them, honoring their histories within present forms.
instagram: @kiani.kodama