Olivia Vita (b. 2 May 1996, USA) is a multidisciplinary artist who pulls from her studies of liberation to create. Olivia’s paintings represent the distillation of emotion into striking pigments whether in full color or black and gray, and are often a meditation on juxtaposition. 

Olivia’s work is greatly shaped by her relationships whether with friends, family members, teachers, or ancestors. Her artwork and creative processes orbit connection, interdependence, interconnectedness, and wholeness.

Raised in a multicultural family of creatives, she was encouraged to sing, paint, and draw, as well as think, seek, and write. The vast variety and seeming contradiction between parts of herself and her family members (Black and white, rich and poor, Christian and Jewish) motivated her study of the spiritual and political: Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism; Vaishnavi, Shakti, and Shaivi Hinduism; indigenous wayfinding; Sunni and Shi’a Islam; the Black Radical Tradition; and Palestinian resistance to Zionist occupation. 

Olivia graduated in 2019 from Georgetown University with a BA in Cultural Anthropology where she studied race formation, Marxism, the Black diaspora, and Arabic. Studying anthropology from Black anthropologists and other anthropologists with colonial origins put the experiences of herself and her family into a global context, making what seemed so personal into one of many versions of the world’s story.

In her freetime, she enjoys being in nature, spending time with friends and family, obsessing over her golden dragon companion, and basking in hermitude. 

Olivia currently bounces between Washington, DC, USA, and Lisbon, Portugal.

HONORS & AWARDS

(2021) Awarded Masters in Divinity full scholarship at Claremont School of Theology

(2019) Accepted to Columbia Anthropology Masters Program

(2018) Faculty nominee for Georgetown Anthropology Stapleton Award

(2017) Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs Doyle Fellow

PUBLICATIONS

Vita, Olivia. (2020). "#KEEPEYESONSUDAN: THE REVOLUTION IN SUDAN AND WHY IT IS FAR FROM OVER." Black Women Radicals. https://www.blackwomenradicals.com/blog-feed/kol-al-balad-darfur-the-revolution-in-sudan-and-why-it-is-far-from-over-vObbm 

Vita, Olivia. (2020)."AMERICAN REPARATIONS, THEN AND NOW: MOTHERS OF A MOVEMENT, LABOR AND THE 2020 ELECTION." Black Women Radicals. https://www.blackwomenradicals.com/blog-feed/american-reparations-then-and-now-i-mothers-of-a-movement-labor-and-the-2020-election-jt7zH 

ENGAGEMENTS

(2023) Artist in Residence at Prisma Estúdio in Lisbon, Portugal, to start a self-driven project exploring the history of African resistance to Portuguese colonization; series of artworks that are in progress.

(2022) Presented an original paper on the compatibility of Jain Dharma with Marxist theory for Beyond Violence: Jainism, Plurality, and World Religions International Conference.

(2018) Spoke urging young Jews to not go on the Birthright Israel trip for the Return the Birthright campaign outside the annual Birthright Gala.

(2018) Narrated the Occupation Free DC campaign video as part of the campaign to end the DC Metropolitan Police Department being trained by the Israeli military.

(2017) Organized a Black-Palestinian solidarity event to share tactics on divesting from state violence in the United States, Israel, and around the world.

Follow @oliviavitaaa on Instagram for process videos and the latest :)