"I want to show a more modern version of black southern culture."

"I want to show a more modern version of Black Southern culture," says Darin Cooper. Born and raised in Virginia and now based in New York City, Darin works across photography, painting, printmaking, and sculpture to explore the diaspora of the African American family in the South.

Darin's practice reflects on lineage, memory, and mourning shaped by the legacy of slavery, redefining what family looks like beyond definitions rooted in whiteness. Working primarily in acrylics, he creates a distinctive watercolor-like texture by using rubbing alcohol to disintegrate pigment, then collages the result with referential prints. He counts Jack Whitten, Radcliffe Bailey, and Sam Gilliam among his influences.

Hometown
Newport News, VA