Jahniah Kum

Jahniah Kum is an interdisciplinary visual artist from Albany, NY. She creates work that explores the evolving shape of grief through painting, photography, printmaking and more. Shaped by the loss of her mother, her practice asks: what does it mean to be whole when something vital is missing?

Kum spent her formative years between Albany, NY and Montego Bay, Jamaica. Attending primary school and experiencing a childhood in Jamaica that gave her the freedom to be curious as a child. Painting the veranda walls of her home and having time to roam her community of Tower Hill to find land crabs, one of her many hobbies as a child. These foundational years inform her colorful palette and nostalgia within her practice.

She earned an A.S. in Fine Arts from Hudson Valley Community College (2020), a B.A. in Studio Art with a minor in Africana Studies from the University at Albany (2023) and a MFA in Painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Her work has been exhibited in a range of group exhibitions, including the annual Mohawk Hudson Regional Show, a solo exhibition at the Spare Room Gallery in Baltimore and the Peale Museum of Art. Her recent exhibitions include her first international shows at Stazlab in Kingston, Jamaica (2026) and Heartbeatink Gallery in Athens, Greece. Between Caregiving and maintaining her practice Kum splits her time between Baltimore, MD and Albany, NY.

Her podcast can be listened to at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/half-ripe/id1684641971