Martine Syms: Soliloquy

Soliloquy offers a high-energy and critical lens on contemporary society. Martine Syms creates a complex digital landscape that highlights real-life issues, such as environmental destruction, political division, and community protest.  

This visual experience is paired with brutally honest words from the digital avatar, Kita. Kita’s World is a modern adaptation of the 1990s television show Cita’s World, which originally aired on the Black Entertainment Television Network (BET). In this updated version, following a similar format, Kita delivers hard-hitting messages that encourage viewers to reflect, acknowledge, and engage. 

Martine Syms, born in 1988, is a Los Angeles–based multimedia artist, whose practice combines conceptual grit, humor, and social commentary. Syms challenges the relationship between digital spaces and the contemporary experience. She examines the perception of Black life in the digital landscape and investigates the link between technology and human connection. Her work offers a critique of, as well as an escape from, a world shaped by imperialism, capitalism, and white patriarchy. 

Soliloquy was acquired by the Saint Louis Art Museum in 2022 as a gift from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York. This presentation will be the premiere of the work at the Museum. 

Martine Syms: Soliloquy is curated by Maggie Brown-Peoples, the 2024–2026 Romare Bearden Graduate Museum Fellow, and Simon Kelly, the curator of modern and contemporary art.