Born: Columbia, South Carolina 
Based in: Chicago, Illinois 

Amanda is a fine artist whose work celebrates the beauty, complexity, and fullness of intersectional identities. As a Black woman, she uses her art as a powerful reminder that identity is not something to be tamed, softened, or placed in a box for others to understand. Instead, she creates work that honors the truth of being a multidimensional human.

Her artistic journey began through dance, where she became captivated by movement; how it tells stories, holds emotion, and carves space for exploration, expression, and celebration. She discovered the feeling of being seen, feeling powerful, and the freedom of weightlessness. Those sensations now flow through her brushstrokes. Her pieces move with the rhythm of the past and the quiet ache of the unseen. Every painting strives to capture the duality of effortlessness and intensity.

The pieces displayed here are rooted in a joyful investigation of identity and Black revolution through beauty, color, and movement, with a current focus on portraiture. Through vibrant, emotional portraits and expressive movement-based compositions, her work invites viewers to embrace the richness of identity in the stillness of just being and the freedom of movement.

She hopes her artwork can serve as a reminder that Blackness is not one experience or one story, but an ever-evolving, limitless expression of identity, love, resilience, and joy.

Instagram: @its.amanda.leigh
Contact: its.amanda.leigh0324@gmail.com