Janiva Ellis

Janiva Ellis (born 1987) is an American painter based in Brooklyn, NY and Los Angeles, CA. Ellis creates figurative paintings that explore the African-American female experience, while incorporating her journey of self-identity within the Black community.

Early life and education Born in Oakland, California, Ellis is biracial. Her mother is white, and her father is black. She was raised by her mother and moved to Hawaii at the age of 7, moving between the islands of Kauai and Oahu. From the age of 10 to 16, she lived in Kauai. After taking a few years to find herself, Ellis returned to New York in 2017 with a new outlook on her upbringing and a sense of self identity being both black and white.

Ellis describes her paintings as, “not only an attempt to communicate to nonblack women my experience, but also to call to other black women, ‘Do you feel this, too?’” Occasionally, Ellis's paintings incorporate religious symbology; such as lambs or angels, referencing the canon of religious painting. her first solo show in New York City. In 2018, Ellis participated in the New Museum Triennial - “Songs for Sabotage.” In the 2025 exhibition "Fear Corroded Ape," her work was presented at Harvard University's Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts.

Art career

2017 - "You Catch More Flies With Arsenic Than Honey” - Club Pro, Los Angeles, California 2017 - "Cabin Fever" - BBQLA, Los Angeles California 2017 - "Lick Shot” - 47 Canal, New York City 2017 - "Prick Up Your Ears” - Karma International, Los Angeles, California 2018 - “Painting: Now & Forever, Part III” - Greene Naftali, New York City 2018 - "Keebler’s Revenge" -The American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York City 2019 - Whitney Biennial 2019, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City 2021 - "Janiva Ellis: Rats" - Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami 2022 - "The Angles" - Hammer Vault Gallery, Los Angeles, California 2025 - "Fear Corroded Ape" - Harvard University's Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts Stanley Hollander Award, 2018