"I’m a fat Black painter who is breaking barriers in a society that wasn’t built for me."

Deja Patterson is a painter and photographer based in the New York City area whose work confronts societal discrimination against plus-sized people. Voluptuous women are central to her exploration of body image, race, and sexuality, rendered with a directness that refuses to look away.

Deja earned her Bachelor of Art in Art from Tougaloo College in 2017 and her Master of Fine Art in Studio Art from Queens College in 2020.

Hometown
New York, NY