Akea Brionne Brown is a Baltimore based photographer, writer, curator, and researcher whose personal work investigates the implications of historical racial and social structures in relation to the development of contemporary black life and identity within America. With a particular focus on the ways in which history influences the contemporary cultural milieu of the American black middle class, she explores current political and social themes, as they relate to historical forms of oppression, discrimination, and segregation in American history. Brown was recently named the 2019 Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize Winner, and recipient of numerous other prestigious awards.