Destiny Palmer
To be entitled
It wouldn't be missed
It could all be so simple
Destiny Palmer (American, b. 1987) is trained as a painter, and her work explores the intersections of painting, history, and color.
Palmer’s paintings, fabric works, and works on paper investigate colonial American history as it relates to her identity as a Black woman. Her artwork has been included in exhibitions at Antenna Gallery (New Orleans, LA), The Colored Girls Museum (Philadelphia, PA), Automat Collective (Philadelphia, PA), Ely Center of Contemporary Art (New Haven, CT), VanDernoot Gallery (Cambridge, MA), and Landmark College (Putney, VT). Palmer has hosted workshops at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, MA) and the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, MA) and was invited to speak at the Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, MA).
While Palmer’s studio work is generated from personal histories, her public art is a reclamation of space. Palmer has worked with various communities to create public art projects, including traditional, community engaged/lead, and digitally created murals. She has worked with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lifewtr, Saxbys, and Mural Arts Philadelphia.
As Palmer explains: I love being able to work with a community to reclaim space. It is extremely important that communities consistently see themselves within their own neighborhood and have ownership of it. Many of these communities are undergoing immense change or are at the bottom of their cities’ priority lists.
Some of her murals can be found at the Gallivan Community Center (Mattapan, MA), Kendall Square (Cambridge, MA), and Navy Yard (Philadelphia, PA). As a finalist artist for a redesign competition, Palmer had the privilege to collaborate and envision a new Codman Square Park (Boston, MA). Palmer earned a BFA (Painting) from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design (Boston, MA) and an MFA (Painting) from Tyler School of Art at Temple University (Philadelphia, PA). She currently teaches art at Thayer Academy (Braintree, MA) and previously was an Assistant Professor at Massachusetts College of Art and Design.