In Residence: Uman

Hauser & Wirth Somerset is delighted to welcome Uman as our artist-in-residence in May 2025.

Uman is a painter that lives and works in Upstate New York, known for her dazzling visual vocabulary and richly-hued worlds replete with gesture, geometry and the sublime. An intuitive artist, her influences abound from memories of her East African childhood, a rigorous education in traditional calligraphy and a fascination with kaleidoscopic color and design. With nods to self-portraiture and fictional topographies, Uman’s paintings speak fluently of liminal navigation. Her work contemplates both the physical and spiritual, intertwining abstraction, figuration, meditative patterning and a reverence for the natural world.

From January – March 2022, Uman’s first exhibition with Hauser & Wirth, ‘Darling sweetie, sweetie darling,’ took place in London, UK, in partnership with Nicola Vassell Gallery. The exhibition drew upon her memories of her East African childhood, rigorous education in traditional Arabic calligraphy, deep engagement with dreams and fascination with kaleidoscopic color and design. ‘A Fantastic Woman,’ Uman’s second exhibition with the gallery, and her first solo show in Switzerland, was on view at Zurich, Limmatstrasse from January – May 2025. The artist presented all new paintings and works on paper in partnership with Nicola Vassell Gallery.

Notable upcoming exhibitions and projects include ‘Uman: After all the things,’ on view at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield CT, from 19 October 2025 – 10 May 2026 and her inclusion in the 12th edition of SITE SANTA FE International Biennial, ‘Once Within a Time,’ curated by Cecilia Alemani. Opening on 27 June 2025, ‘Once Within a Time’ will feature over 300 works by more than 70 historical and contemporary artists.

In addition, Uman is one of 18 artists selected to debut a new public art commission at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Terminal 6, which opens in 2026. The art program is led by Public Art Fund, the independent nonprofit organization dedicated to art in public spaces. The featured artists will capture the spirit of New York with a diverse range of artworks that will be seamlessly integrated into the terminal.

Uman has had solo exhibitions at Nicola Vassell, New York NY; Eleni Koroneou Gallery, Athens, Greece; Fierman, New York NY; Anne De Villepoix, Paris, France; and White Columns, New York NY. She has been featured in group exhibitions at the Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, Canada; For-Site Foundation at Fort Mason Chapel, San Francisco CA; Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK; Karma, New York NY; and Ramiken Crucible, New York NY.

In 2022, she was the recipient of the inaugural grant for The Cube at TRIADIC’s FORMAT Festival in Bentonville AR.