Luin Joy (he/him) is an artist, writer, musician, coach, and facilitator interested in worldbuilding, collective healing, and divine trans imagination/embodiment. He aims to make work that centers trans/queer experience, distills complex systems, connects disparate threads, dismantles cis-het limiting beliefs, and alters realities through performance, writing, sonic sculpture, painting, spiritual practices, and many other formats.

Luin holds a Master of Fine Arts with a concentration in Sculpture and Performance (School of The Art Institute of Chicago, 2020) and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Art History (Savannah College of Art and Design, 2015).

He has existed under two previous names, Luan Joy Sherman (2016-22) and his name assigned at birth (1993-2016).

Luin is passionate about teaching and offers 1-on-1 Creative Coaching to support others in creative healing, personal transformation, and the process of making art.
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SELECTED CV

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2021 - Intricate Rituals, The Front, New Orleans, LA

2019 - Luan Joy Sherman: People Like Me Exist, SPACE Gallery, Portland, ME

2018 - HOMECOMING, Little Berlin Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

RESIDENCIES

2025 - The Enso Circle, Virtual Residency

2021 - The Neighbors, Chicago, IL

2020 - Blueprint Residency, Chicago, IL

2019 - Comfort Station, Respite Station collaboration with sair goetz, Chicago, IL

2018 - SPACE Gallery, Portland, ME

2017 - ACRE Residency, Steuben, WI

2016 - Black Mountain School, Black Mountain, NC

2014 - The Chautauqua School of Art, Chautauqua, NY

FILM FESTIVALS

2020 - Film, Video, New Media, Sound MFA Film Festival, Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, IL

2017 - Trans Film Series, Anthology Film Archives, New York, NY

TEACHING + FACILITATION

2025 - Sound Playground, School of the Alternative, Black Mountain, NC

2024 - Making Art As an Act of Self-Acceptance, Durham, NC

2022- Fertile Fear, School of the Alternative, Black Mountain, NC

2020 - Daily Practice, School of the Alternative, Black Mountain, NC

2019- Queer Phys Ed, LGBTQIA Summit at Evanston Township High School, Evanston, IL

2019- Physical Education; The Joy of Having a Body, School of The Alternative, Black Mountain, NC

2018- How To Not Know, School of The Alternative, Black Mountain, NC

2017- Queer Masculinity, School of The Alternative, Black Mountain, NC

2016- Intersectionality: Queer Theory and Transgender Discourse, Sunday School, Brooklyn, NY

SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS + COLLABORATIONS

2024 - Horizons of The Almost Not Yet, Blackrock Arts Center, Germantown, MD

a tumbling ave fell onto itself, Ingrown Gallery, Chicago, IL

Questival, The Trans Museum, Savannah, GA

boy howdy; i wonder why?, The Front, New Orleans, LA

2023 - Hoarders, Quarters Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2020 - SAIC Class of 2020 MFA Thesis Exhibition, Sullivan Galleries and Virtual, Chicago, IL

Amphibious Group Effort, Comfort Station, Chicago, IL

Just Red Hot Friendship, theymaker, Chicago IL

2019 - NIXED_INDEX, George Caleb Bingham Gallery, Columbia, MO

Bodies in Motion, Here/There Gallery, Portland, OR

MCA In Progress: Jonas Becker, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL

Respite Station, Comfort Station, Chicago IL

Transistors, Ralph Arnold Gallery, Chicago IL

2018 - Circumambulation, ACRE Projects, Chicago IL

Definitely Not For Everyone, QuoLab, Savannah, GA

body|armor, ACRE Projects, Chicago, IL

2017 - Sleep Exchange, SLEEP CENTER, New York, NY

Digital Divide, Midtown Players Club, Atlanta, GA

Otherwise Normal, ONE Art Space, TriBeCa, New York, NY

The Personal Is Political, Non-Fiction Gallery, Savannah, GA

2016 - Otherwise Normal, 249 W 60th Street, New York, NY

ENVENOMATE, 50 Taaffe Street, Brooklyn, NY

Benefit for Youth Arts Collective, Y.A.C., Cedar Rapids, IA

dis:EMBODIED, Non-Fiction Gallery, Savannah, GA

Self-Portrait: Place, Identity, and Culture, Converge Art, Edison, NJ

Revolution, Welmont Gallery, Savannah, GA

2015 - Transforming: Street Objects, SITE: Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY

Archive Projects, sup son, Savannah, GA

Transilience, Non-Fiction Gallery, Savannah, GA

Performance and Chaos, The Warehouse, Savannah, GA

2014 - Project Liminal, Indigo Sky Project Space, Savannah, GA

Ephemera, Ashmore Gallery, Savannah, GA

2013 - Up For Discussion, Ashmore Gallery, Savannah, GA

LECTURES AND PERFORMANCES

2024 - Arriving at Experimental Music, School of the Alternative, Black Mountain, NC

Rock Roulette Showcase, Girls Rock North Carolina, Durham, NC

2022 - Terrible Twos, No Nation Art Gallery and Tangential Unspace Lab, Chicago, IL

2020 - Intricate Rituals / Intricate Refuse Film Screening, The Front, New Orleans, LA

2019 - Respite Station with sair goetz, Comfort Station, Chicago, IL

Art and Healing for LGBTQ Youth, Youth Empowerment Performance Project x SAIC,
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

2018 - Making Space: Queer Modalities, SPACE Gallery, Portland, ME

TERFs 101, School of The Alternative, Black Mountain, NC

2015 - Hangers, Hot Dogs, and Cigarettes, by Tora Lopez and Cat Glennon, Cooper Union, New York, NY

A Cloth To Cover Every Stone by Mwangi Hutter, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, GA

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