Tau Lewis was born in 1993 in Toronto, Canada, and lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. A self-taught artist, Lewis has crafted her education through communion with peers, like the queer Caribbean collective RAGGA NYC, and pilgrimages to meet the artists and institutions that inspire her, such as Atlanta-based artist Lonnie Holley and the Gee’s Bend Quilting Association. Once a student of journalism, the artist channels stories through material constructions. Using labor-intensive techniques like hand-sewing, applique, carving, and assemblage, she transforms recycled materials into large-scale figurative works. She likens the practice of upcycling to diasporic methods of art making and survival, situating her work within the deep history, vibrant present, and oracular future of Black cultural production.