Biography
DIVA is a French visual artist, director and cinematographer working across moving image, photography, installation and expanded cinema. A Fulbright Scholar, she studied Art History and Archaeology before pursuing an MFA in Film at Howard University, specializing in cinematography and Third World Cinema. Blending documentary, fiction and surrealism, her practice explores displacement, loneliness and the alienation of diasporic bodies. Drawing on Black mythologies, memory and speculative imaginaries, she examines bodies caught between places, histories and mediated realities.
Through slow observation, constructed tableaux and immersive environments, DIVA explores how images can alter our relationship to space and time. Across her practice, time, silence and ghosts reveal what continues to haunt bodies, places and images, while mythology and speculation open possibilities for imagining other relationships to history and the future.
Awards & Residencies
2026 Aesthetica Art Prize Emerging Prize
2023 NATAS - Student Emmys Awards- Fiction Short Film
2023 Fulbright Grant Scholarships
2023 Georges Lurcy Fellowship
2022 Hexagram Scholarships Recipients
2021 IDFA DocLab Creative Funds
2021 Live Cinema UK Associate Artists
Exhibitions
2026
Aesthetica Art Prize - York Museum
York, England
200LUX EXPO
MAC, Maison des Arts, scène nationale de Créteil
Creteil, France
Centrum Fotografii / Muzeum Warszawy
Warszawy, Poland
IDFA - cccriojo* x DARKMATTER
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Les Rencontres de la Photographie d’Arles
Arles, France
2025
Lagos Photo Biennale
Lagos, Nigeria
Minute Mapp - Moment Factory
Montreal, Canada
Art Triennale - Galerie Université de Montréal
Montreal, Canada
2024
African Film Festival - Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
New York City, USA
Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority
Washington DC , USA
2023
Trajectoires - Museum Centre Georges Pompidou
Paris, France
Si Cinema Festival
Caen, France
2022
New Orleans Black Indians Exhibition
Museum Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac
Paris, France
SAT Fest 2022
Montreal, Canada
Aesthetica Short Film Festival
York, UK
MAPP Festival 2022
Montreal, Canada
Stiftung Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst
Leipzig, Germany
2021
Sometimes it was beautiful
Guggenheim Museum
New York City, USA
Aesthetica Art Prize Exhibition - York Art Gallery
York, UK
York, UK
Festival International du Film sur l’Art (39e édition)
Montréal, Canada
Teatrino di Palazzo Grassi
Venice, Italy
Salts
Basel, Switzerland
Basel, Switzerland
We the Curious Planetarium
Bristol, United Kingdom
Festival Arts Souterrain
Montréal, Canada
Spill Festival
London, UK
2020
Artis Planetarium of Amsterdam
Amsterdam, Netherland
𝗱𝗼 {𝗻𝗼𝘁} 𝘁𝗼𝘂𝗰𝗵 doc lab - International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, Netherland
BlackStar Festival
Philadelphia, USA
Encontro de Cinema Negro Zózimo Bulbul
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
On Ancient Earth - Artist Expedition Society & Lumen
Alice Spring, Australia
Video Art Festival Turku
Turku, Finland
we may seek cosmic marronage but let’s remember our terrestrial obligations - 18th Streets Arts
Los Angeles, USA
Yebo Contemporary Art Gallery
Ezulwini, Eswatini
Kin Art Studio
Kinshasa, République Démocratique du Congo
Nubuke Fondation
Accra, Ghana
Raw Material Company
Dakar, Sénégal
Vansa
Johanesbourg, Afrique du Sud
Centre d’Art Waza
Lubumbashi, République Démocratique du Congo
Mahal Art Space
Tanger, Maroc
Straight Through The Wall
New York, USA
2020
Jeunes Créations, Programme Performance
Silencio, Paris, France
Pempeople Southwark Untold 2.0
Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom
Contacts
Kitoko Diva
divam.promo[at]gmail.com
soundcloud