About me
Trina Michelle Robinson is a San Francisco–based interdisciplinary artist whose work explores the relationship between memory, migration, and ancestral legacy. Using film, photography, printmaking, installation, and archival materials, Robinson creates emotionally resonant narratives that examine the fractures and recoveries within personal and collective histories.Her practice is rooted in research and somatic engagement, often drawing from her own family’s migration stories and the erasures embedded in historical archives. Robinson repurposes fragments of memory—whether through handmade paper infused with ancestral fibers or glitch-based video techniques—to evoke both trauma and transcendence. Her work invites viewers to reflect on the invisible forces that shape identity and belonging, and to consider how movement, loss, and recovery are shared across generations.Robinson holds an MFA from California College of the Arts and a BA in Political Science from DePaul University. Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD), ICA San José, Minnesota Street Project, the San Francisco Art Commission Main Gallery, and the BlackStar Film Festival, among others. She is a 2024 SFMOMA SECA Award finalist and was recently nominated for the Anonymous Was A Woman Award.Robinson’s practice offers a powerful lens into the emotional terrain of migration and memory, affirming that art can be a tool for reckoning, release, and reconnection. Through her layered storytelling, she creates space for viewers to engage with histories that are often hidden, yet deeply felt.
