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Khaleelah I. L. Harris (b. 1996) is a self-taught multidisciplinary artist working at the intersection of alternative photography processes, experimental visuality, and neohoodoo aesthetics. Her practice centers on what she theorizes as “sacred speculation” — a mode of engaging Black historical objects whose damaged or non-existent states complicate conventional memory-keeping, and demand a different kind of understanding.

Harris works with cyanotype, lumen prints, phonograms, and chlorophyll processes to bring together unnamed and unidentified subjects from digitized archives, constructing images that carry the appearance of damage. These obscured surfaces are not failures — they are intentional: offering messages to viewers while extending protection to the ancestors venerated within each work. Her image-making practice interrogates ancestral presence, archival absence, ghostly matters, and The Blues as both aesthetic and ethical commitments. She is a 2021 graduate of Yale University (M.A. Religion) and a 2018 graduate of Bethune-Cookman University (B.A. Religion & Philosophy).

 

As an arts, culture, and history worker and social entrepreneur, Khaleelah I. L. Harris has co-founded and served in executive leadership roles for three organizations bridging contemporary African Diasporic art, African American History, Wellness, and Social Entrepreneurship. Harris is the co-founder and Executive Director of The Beauty of Our Wellness, was the former lead curator and manager of Mehari Sequar Gallery, and co-wrote a winning $5 million grant proposal as the co-founder and principal consultant of Tabon Path Consulting. She has established partnerships with medical, educational, cultural, and religious institutions to create notable impact in her community. Harris is experienced in fundraising, program design, and small team management with a record of translating ideas into public programs, institutional initiatives, and exhibitions.

 

Harris is a 2026 Professional Artist-in-Residence at the Henry Luce Center for the Arts & Religion in Washington, D. C.