Marlos E’van (b. 1988 Tupelo, MS) Nashville based artist, E’van interweaves different mediums such as painting, performance, and filmmaking to create worlds in which their art recollects black histories: joy, pain, celebration, sorrow, and complex emotions from reenacted scenes of American histories. A subtle vernacular in expression has caught recognition from such publications such as Hyperallergic and Native Magazine. In addition to their work as an artist, E’van co-founded/co-designs M-SPAR, McGruder Social Practice Artist Residency out of the McGruder Center in North Nashville. Working as an educator in a hard-hit redlined Nashville neighborhood, E’van actively listens to their pupils, gathering stories that also inform E’van’s paintings. Their own life creates first-person narratives in paintings targeting marginalization, stemming from a queer black history rooted in his home state of Mississippi. Marlos E’van’s work is included in multiple Southern collections, has been shown in VA, TN, GA, and NY. They have been awarded the Mellon Foundation for McGruder, and the Metro Arts Thrive grant. Marlos received their B.F.A. from Watkins College of Art, Nashville, TN.
