Shanai Matteson

Shanai Matteson is an artist, writer, mother and cultural organizer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Shanai is one of the founders and collaborative directors of Water Bar & Public Studio, an artist-led public benefit corporation that serves water to build relationships and transform culture.

She creates public art, media projects, stories and social spaces to build and transform relationships. Through slow and emergent arts activism, Shanai strives to change the conditions in which we create and collaborate, shifting narratives and culture, and the systems they shape. In her work as a visual artist and writer, she documents the people and experiences that move her, creating stories and artwork that honors the complex and reciprocal nature of identity, experience, place and memory.