luin joy
misc.
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
INTERVIEWS + PUBLICATIONS
2025 - Finding Voice and Queer Family in Southern USA; Luin Joy in conversation with Sophia Stopper by Sophia Stopper, Medium, 4/30/2025
2024 - Meet Luin Joy, Canvas Rebel Magazine, 9/2/2024
boy howdy; i wonder why? Ann Haley + Luin Joy, Press Release for The Front, New Orleans, 6/8 - 7/7
2023 - Blue Dot Podcast Episode 59: “Voices of Pride Part II; Luin Joy, Compassion Transcends Comprehension”, 6/18/2023
2022 - Artist Soapbox, Episode 159: “Fertile Fear”, 6/13/2022
2021 - School of the Alternative Chats, Episode 1: “Interview with Heidi Gruner and Luin Joy”, 6/20/2021
2019 - StoryCorps Archive: “Alexis Martinez and Luan Joy Sherman for Stonewall OutLoud” with Allie Stephens, 4/19/2019
2018 - In Conversation with Artist-in-Residence Luan Joy Sherman by Martha Schnee, SPACE Reader, 3/28/2018
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