EDUCATION
MFA Roski School of Art and Design, University of Southern California (anticipated 2025)
BA Africana Studies, English Minor, Barnard College, Columbia University
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2025 Sonic Systems/Future Visions, Solo Exhibition, Roski Graduate Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (upcoming)
2024-25 Converge + Vertex, SMC Barrett Art Gallery, Santa Monica CA
2024 Seeing the Self, Sovern Gallery & Los Angeles Center for Photography, Los Angeles CA
2023 In the Midst of the Imagined, Residency: Project Space, Inglewood CA
2022-23 Tikkun: For the Cosmos, the Community, and Ourselves, Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco CA
2022 2022 Art Auction, Root Division Gallery, San Francisco CA
2022 20th Anniversary Celebration, Frank Ratchye Project Space/Root Division Gallery, San Francisco CA
2022 Queer Rain, Institute for Contemporary Art, San Francisco CA
2022 Taking Up Outer Space (Solo Show), Manny’s Gallery, San Francisco CA
2021 RD Makes, Root Division Gallery, San Francisco CA
2020 Museum from Home: CTRL+SHFT, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (virtual)
2020 Women Rising, The Drawing Room, San Francisco CA
2019 Fellows Exhibit, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
CURATORIAL
2022-25 Curatorial Committee Member, Root Division Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2024 Undergraduate Student Art Show, USC Fisher Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
2021 Diasporic Futurism, co-curated with Juan Carlos Rodriguez Rivera, Root Division, San Francisco, CA
2020 Curatorial Resident, Root Division Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2019 Space is the Place, EM Wolfman, Oakland, CA
GRANTS & FELLOWSHIPS
2023-25 USC Roski School of Art and Design Fellowship for Graduate Study
2025 Center for Cultural Innovation Quick Grant
2024 Los Angeles Center for Photography Sugar Shack Fund Scholarship
2023 The Puffin Foundation Artist Grant
2021-22 Root Division Studio Artist/Artist-in-Action Fellow Finalist
2021 East Bay Relief Fund for Individuals in Arts Grant, Center for Cultural Innovation
2021 Center for Cultural Innovation Quick Grant
2021 Headlands Center for the Arts Community Response Fund
2019 Center for Cultural Innovation Quick Grant
2018-19 Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Political Power Fellowship
2018-19 Music-to-Life Activist Musician Accelerator Grant, UC Berkeley
2013 Berlin Music Board Career Springboard Grant (with Ruby Tuesday Rock Camp)
2009 New York Department of Cultural Affairs and Brooklyn Arts Council Individual Artist Grant
RESIDENCIES
2021 Contemporary Jewish Museum Inaugural Artist in Residence, San Francisco
2019 Arts Accelerator, Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco
2015 White Trash Fast Food Band Residency, Berlin
2014-15 Bar Tausend Artist in Residence, Berlin
2014 Converse Rubber Tracks Studio Series Artist Resident, Berlin
PRESS
Weil, Serena. The World According to Leah King Daily Trojan, 22 Oct 2024
Vargas, Steven. Weekly Countdown: ‘in the midst of the imagined’ LA Times, July 12 2023
Curiel, Jonathan. How the Jewish Museum’s latest exhibit perfectly captures this moment in time SF Examiner, Feb 23 2022
Sci, LaFrae and King, Leah. On Music, Ritual, and Ancestral Futurism CJM, August 2021
Hotchkiss, Sarah. Contemporary Jewish Museum Announces Inaugural Artists in Residence KQED, Feb 17 2021
Paull, Laura. CJM Announces First Resident Artists J Weekly, Feb 17 2021
Nobles-Block, Samantha. From Disco Balls to Clotheslines San Francisco Chronicle, Nov 8 2020
LECTURER/SPEAKER
2025 It’s My House: Exploring & Addressing the Systemic Erasure of Black Femmes in House Music Culture; Dancecult Conference, Technische Universität Berlin
2023 Choice of Colors: Navigating Multiraciality Panel; Santa Barbara Black Culture House
2022 GLAAD Hangout Artist Feature, @GLAAD Instagram Live
2022 Afrofuturism & Constructing Diasporic Futurities; California College of the Arts
2021 Women in Music and Audio; Boston Audio Engineering Society, Virtual
2021 Digital Tech: Inspiring the Next Generation; Infosys Foundation Pathfinders Winter Institute Opening Ceremony, Virtual
2021 Black Women Rock Panel; Santa Barbara Black History Month Culture House
2020 Business of Being An Artist; Mills Lorry I. Lokey School of Business and Public Policy, Oakland
2020 Synths and Social Change Panel, Synthbooth Conference, Virtual
2019 Empowered Movement; San Francisco State University College of Health and Social Sciences
2018 Making Change in Groups Panel; International Women's Day, Rough Trade New York City
SELECTED LIVE PERFORMANCES
2024 Dublab Radio Live DJ Set
2024 THF Radio DJ: Klub Ostkreuz Berlin
2024 Santa Barbara Black History Month
2023 Residency Art Gallery Inglewood
2023 The Line Hotel Los Angeles
2022 2220 Arts & Archives Los Angeles
2022 Kapwa Gardens San Francisco
2021 Yerba Buena Day Gardens Festival San Francisco
2019 Yerba Buena Center for the Arts San Francisco
2018 Mensch Meier Berlin
2018 Nublu NYC
2018 New York University
2018 Bowery Electric NYC
2018 Wythe Hotel NYC
2017 Pratchtwerk Berlin
2017 Bizarre Bar NYC
2017 Nuyorican Poets Café NYC
2017 Silent Barn NYC
2016 Pete’s Candy Store NYC
2016 C’mon Everybody NYC
2016 Brooklyn Academy of Music
2016 Shea Stadium NYC
2015 ACUD Theaterhaus Berlin
2014 Lames, Vienna
2014 Schwuz, Berlin
2014 Rosa Caleta Berlin
2014 English Theater Berlin
2014 Uni-Campus Göttingen
2014 HAU Theater Berlin
2013 Barnard College
2013 Soho House, Berlin
2013 Chapeau Rouge, Prague
2013 about:blank, Berlin
2013 SO36 Berlin
2013 B-Gallery Berlin
2012 Designers Open Festival Leipzig
2012 Divan du Monde Paris
2012 Planet Alpheus & Aquario Romano, Rome