Cedar Annenkovna is a citizen of planet Earth with roots indigenous to it. She was born by the sea amid political turmoil and revolution. Her mind and soul have been an instrument to art in some shape or form manifest throughout many lifetimes. From the beginning she has produced artistic creations utilizing whatever mediums she could access from stone sculpture to linen coffee paintings. Later while attending Brooklyn International Academy in NY she made an impact with her art in many different circles. She expanded her technique to trains, buildings, backdrops for theater, art shows, and other social gatherings. She also learned to airbrush graphics on her friends’ lowriders. After graduating she studied abroad, earning a degree in biology and later culinary ethics and nutritional supplementation. Through study these also became forms of artistic expression added to her repertoire. Cedar’s mission, as human and artist, is to develop deeper understanding, joie de vivre, and compassion as time transgresses. Cedar’s case was recently overturned by the Colorado Supreme Court on the grounds of wrongful conviction. After 6 years in prison she is now free to pursue her dreams and aspirations.

Her artwork and poetry have been featured in exhibitions and publications nationwide and internationally including: Marking Time: Art in the Era of Mass Incarceration curated by Nicole Fleetwood, multiple venues from MoMA PS1, New York, to Toronto, Canada (2019-2024); Ending The Exception [To the 13th Amendment], Philly Mural Arts Project, Peoples Plaza Philadelphia (2023); The President Portrait Project, Lincoln’s Cottage Museum, Washington, D.C. (2024); 1st place poetry and art in Picture a Free World Art Show, Concept Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA (2023 and summer 2024) with a cover design feature in Let’s Get Free and Daughters Magazine; Play It Louder—Abolitionist Sanctuary & Solitary Gardens: Amplifying Carceral Realities and Abolition Futures, Public Promotions and Cover Design, New Orleans, (2023); Painting Ourselves Into Society, Berkeley Art Center, (September 21st 2024 – January 12th, 2025).

Artist Statement

Humbly, I am an artist, poet, activist, abolitionist, lover of freedom, the earth and all of creation. My identity supersedes diminishment to a number within the Colorado Department of Corrections. Wherever life appoints me, may I be receptive to opportunity; for others and myself to always be a light and stand in solidarity with those caught up in struggle. May we remain compassionate and human despite circumstances that may pressure us to become otherwise.

I wish to create art that celebrates hope, life, and possibility. I work to promote visual education that exposes our failings to value human beings as so much more than our mistakes, which are somehow then used to determine whether a person is worthy of love and redemption. I hope to foster abolition and unconditional love, to initiate change for the greater good.

I work to embody through visual representation those ideas that may raise awareness and initiate change in the System for the Greater Good for creation and the earth we all share and call our home.

Contact Information:

I currently work as the garden steward and herbalist for the non-profit ‘Freedom To Grow’ in New Orleans, LA.
Follow us: @solitarygardens and solitarygardens.org
Email: [email protected]