Gina Washington

I was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio and graduated with an MFA in Photography from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. I consider herself “a Child of the Universe” and I have traveled to many places collecting images and connecting artists. I have exhibited my work nationally and internationally and I have won awards for portraiture as I create art “by any means necessary”. I am the founder of the Black Female Artist Collective and creator of Mateza Gallery LLC on Etsy and a member of Cooperative Cleveland on Larchmere Boulevard. As a master collaborator, I work with fellow artists Chester Hopkins-Bey, Kole Robinson Brooks and Loletia Wilson as the co-founder of a group called The Visit Arts Collective, which started at Ingenuity Fest Cleveland in 2009. Together since, we create experiential exhibitions, installations and educational programs incorporating music, poetry, dance, and the visual arts to engage the participant and challenge their notions of the Black experience through the arts. Ultimately my goal is to bring clarity and solutions to the chaos in the world through art and to make art accessible to all people, especially the disenfranchised and underrepresented in the global community.