Tya Alisa Anthony was born in 1978 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and raised in Colorado, Frankfurt, and Baltimore. She explores themes of identity in her work through the use of photography and collage. Specifically, she examines American popular culture and race. Anthony uses photographic imagery sourced from the internet and an extensive archive of personal family photographs in her work, in addition to historical images of patterns and textiles. The final images she creates with these materials represent both an intersectionality that defines contemporary culture while also producing autonomous zones for bodies of color.
Anthony graduated summa cum laude and as class valedictorian with a BFA from the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design in 2015. Presently, Anthony lives and works in Denver. She is a 2018 RedLine Contemporary Art Center Resident and a TANK Studios artist. Additionally, she serves on the advisory board for Leon Gallery, a non-profit gallery and creative space dedicated to mentoring emerging artists across multiple disciplines, and the board of Tilt West, a non-profit dedicated to fostering critical dialog in art and culture in Denver