BIO

Adele 이슬 Kenworthy (she/they) is a 1.5 generation Korean American artist-organizer.

Her work centers the AANHPI femme experience, exploring what gestures and rituals we hold onto as sites of comfort and resistance during occupation and war—through participatory performance, sculpture, and photographic archives.

Using organic, ephemeral materials— cut florals and fruits—she transforms embodied gestures of care into sculptural forms and durational performances, each a living monument to resilience and counter-memories existing in public.

She is a recipient of the 2025-26 Virginia Museum of Fine Art Visual Arts Professional Fellowship (New+Emerging Media) and the Wherewithal Research Grant managed by the Washington Project for the Arts and funded by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

She participated in Transformer Gallery’s 19th Exercises for Emerging Artists program and has held residencies at Washington Project for the Arts, Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington x Amazon HQ2 studio, and the Torpedo Factory Arts Center (upcoming Nov-Jan 2026).

Their work has been exhibited at the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, Transformer, Rhizome, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Corcoran Gallery of Art, and American University (Washington, D.C.); Brentwood Arts Exchange and Towson University’s Asian Arts and Culture Center (Maryland); Bond Millen Gallery (Richmond, VA); and Art Basel Miami (Florida).

Kenworthy holds her MFA in Social Practice Art with a focus in public policy from the Corcoran School of Arts and Design at George Washington University, receiving the 2022 Outstanding MFA Award.

Their past DC community organizing collaborators include Empower DC, Chinatown Arts Studio, 411 Collective, and Rising Organizers. In 2023, she gave birth to her daughter, was in a group exhibition at the DCCAH gallery, and worked with Monument Lab’s project management team on Beyond Granite: Pulling Together—the first outdoor art exhibition on the National Mall.

Her work has been featured in The Washington Post, Hyperallergic, District Fray, Bmore Art, Washingtonian, NBCWashington, and Fox45 Baltimore.

She lives and works on the ancestral lands of the Piscataway and Nacotchtank (Anacostan) people, in the Washington, D.C metro area.

C/V

ADELE 이슬 KENWORTHY

themeowingbird.com · @themeowingbird · Washington, D.C. Metro Area

EDUCATION

2022 · M.F.A., Social Practice Art
Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS & PERFORMANCES

2025 · EMERGE, Bond Millen Gallery, Richmond, VA
2025 · what is something you always wished I had asked and knew about you?, Goethe-Institut Washington x Thomas Mann House LA, Washington, D.C.
2025 · BLOOM, National Landing x Amazon with USAN USAN x MoCA Arlington, VA
2025 · Collector’s Night, Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, D.C.
2024 · We Should Talk: CUT FRUIT/과일깍자!, National Museum of Asian Art (Smithsonian WHI x APAC), Washington, D.C.*
2024 · Asia North 2024: Love Letters to Baltimore + the DMV, Towson University Asian Arts & Culture Center, Baltimore, MD
2024 · Transcendence, Transformer Gallery, Katzen Arts Center, American University, Washington, D.C.
2024 · For the Ground We Walk On: an earthly arts salon, Rhizome, Washington, D.C.
2023 · The Invincible Visible, Transformer Gallery, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
2023 · RE/ENVISIONING, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Washington, D.C.
2023 · Collector’s Night, Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, D.C.
2022 · your presence is the best art, Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, D.C.
2022 · to carry within us an orchard, Transformer Gallery, Washington, D.C.*
2022 · TREEHOUSE, Brentwood Arts Exchange, Brentwood, MD
2022 · NEXT 2022, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
2022 · lacuna blossoms, Gallery 102, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.*
2022 · Interconnected, Korean Community Services, Queens, NY
2021 · Floralscapes, The Fearless Artist, Art Basel Miami, FL

*indicates solo exhibition

RESIDENCIES & FELLOWSHIPS

2025–26 · VMFA Professional Visual Arts Fellowship (New + Emerging Media), Richmond, VA
2025 · Post-Graduate Residency, Torpedo Factory Arts Center, Alexandria, VA
2025 · MoCA Arlington x Amazon HQ2 Innovation Studio, National Landing, VA
2022 · E19: Artistic Interventions, Transformer Gallery, Washington, D.C.
2022 · Artist-Organizer Residency, Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, D.C.
2021 · Community Organizers Fellowship, Rising Organizers, Washington, D.C.
2021 · Visual Storyteller Fellowship, WomenPhotograph

SOCIALLY ENGAGED PROJECTS & PARTICIPATORY WORKS

CUT FRUIT
Ongoing immersive public art and performance series exploring matrilineal care, cultural loss, and memory through the ritual of cutting fruit.

2024 · Rhizome, Washington, D.C.
2023 · RE/ENVISIONING, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities
2022 · Transformer Gallery, Washington, D.C.

Floralscapes
Public installations activating community spaces with flowers as protest, remembrance, and reclamation.

2024 · Museum Square Blooms, Chinatown, Washington, D.C.
2023 · Right to Roots, Ivy City 150th Celebration, Washington, D.C.
2021 · Let Ivy City Bloom, Washington, D.C.

The Durational Performance of Cut Fruit
Participatory clay and sound project embedding memories into sculpted fruit using voice messages and NFC technology.

2025 · MoCA Arlington Innovation Studio, National Landing, VA
2025 · KID Museum, Bethesda, MD
2025 · Amazon HQ2 Creative Expressions Lab, National Landing, VA

Flowerhands: Bongseonhwa Natural Nail Dye
Community ritual rooted in Korean floral dyeing practices. Reimagined as participatory care-based gathering for Korean diasporic connection.

2024 · Asia North 2024, Baltimore, MD
2024 · KID Museum, Bethesda, MD
2022 · The Nicholson Project, Washington, D.C.
2022 · Corcoran School of Arts and Design + George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

AWARDS & HONORS

2025 · Wherewithal Research Grant, WPA x Andy Warhol Foundation
2022 · Outstanding MFA Award in Social Practice Art, Corcoran School of the Arts and Design
2020–22 · Edna Wattis Dumke Memorial Scholarship, Corcoran School of the Arts and Design
2020–22 · Hortense Mae Boutell Scholarship, Corcoran School of the Arts and Design
2015 · Baltimore City Council Resolution for Ruined (Everyman Theatre), Baltimore, MD, 2015

SELECTED TALKS, PANELS, & PUBLIC ENGAGEMENTS

2025 · Artist Talk, MoCA Arlington x Amazon HQ2 Residency
2025 · Panelist, Action Reconciliation Service for Peace, Goethe-Institut Washington, D.C.
2024 · AAPI Artist Panel, IlluminAsia Festival, National Museum of Asian Art
2024 · Journeys Podcast Season 4, KAMA DC
2022 · Artist Talk, Radical Self Care course, Corcoran School of Arts and Design
2022 · Artist Talk, Becoming Asian American: Migration, Melancholia, and Memory course, George Washington University
2021 ·  Artist Talk, The Fearless Artist Young Curators Program

PRESS & BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hahn, Fritz and Solano, Sophia. “The 32 best things to do in D.C. this weekend and next week.” Washington Post. May 3, 2024.
Benjamin, Kayla. “Northeast Neighborhood Ivy City Celebrates 150th Anniversary.” Washington Informer. October 25, 2023.
Niuman, Olivia. “East City Art Reviews – RE/ENVISIONING.” Eastcityart.com. August 1, 2023.
Mengüç, Murat Cem. “10 Art Shows to See in Washington, DC, This Summer.” Hyperalleric.com. July 13, 2023.
Mahoney, Katherine. “Reflect on Your Story at the RE/ENVISIONING Exhibition.” District Fray Magazine. July 6, 2023.
Bechky, Aviva. “Your Guide to AAPI Month in D.C.” District Fray Magazine. May 1, 2023.
Bechky, Aviva. “Cut Fruit Means I Love You in Adele Kenworthy’s New Exhibit.” District Fray Magazine. August 11, 2022.
Steinhardt, Ruth. “Student Art Shines at NEXT 2022.” GW Today. May 2, 2022.
Jenkins, Mark. “In the galleries: Artistic portals leading to and encouraging wonder.” Washington Post. June 17, 2022.
Westcott, Emma. “Flowers As the Medium for Protest and Change.” Corcoran School of Arts & Design. August 3, 2021.
“Community Renovation Project Attempts to Restore Ivy City.” NBCWashington. May 16, 2021.

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

2022-2024    Board Member, Secretary, Fiber With A Cause, Washington, D.C.
2022-2024    Staff+Contractor, Monument Lab, Philadelphia, PA