Ariana Faye Allensworth

Ariana Allensworth is an artist and creative leader whose work bridges education, visual storytelling, and community-based research. Ariana is a long-time member of the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project (AEMP), a data visualization and storytelling collective that reclaims technology as a means to embolden housing justice movements. She co-founded AEMP’s New York City Chapter in 2017. She has worked with The Center for Cultural Power, Cultural Engagement Lab, The International Center of Photography, Lower East Side Community Cultural Council, Youth Speaks, Urban Arts Partnership, and ProArts Gallery. Born and raised in San Francisco, she currently lives and organizes in Brooklyn, NY.

Get to know Ariana Faye Allensworth
What Does Abundance Mean To You?

Abundance makes visible the lived wisdom within all of us. It is a tool to resist the scarcity mindsets that often shape our movements and calls to community.

Tell us about an artist, curator, activist, or project that has influenced or inspired you?

I’m deeply inspired by the work of artist/educator Kameelah Janan Rasheed. She has this magical way of making the stories embedded in archives come to life. As an educator and researcher, I totally nerd out about the ways she is able to transform exhibition spaces into rich pedagogical experiences. Her 2018 exhibition with The Black School at the New Museum was a game changer for me and shifted what I thought was possible within the confines of a gallery space.

PROJECT

Staying Power: A Participatory Storytelling Project


Staying Power is a collaborative, multidisciplinary art and research project that celebrates the people’s history of New York City public housing. The project offers counter-narratives to the stereotypes surrounding the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) through the lens of residents raised and living in NYCHA.

Ariana’s Resources

The LP Reading Group – February 2022 – Reparations, Pandemic, and Power