Martine Syms was born in Los Angeles in 1988. Syms’s work across media and genres, often employing humor and narration, explores notions of the self within popular culture. Recent solo presentations include Projects 106: Martine Syms, Museum of Modern Art, New York (2017); She Mad: Season One, Bergen Kunsthall, Norway (2021–22), and Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2022–23); and Total, Lafayette Anticipations, Paris (2024–25). Recent group exhibitions include those at the Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2022); Kunsthal Charlottenborg Biennale, Copenhagen (2023); and the Art Museum at the University of Toronto (2024–25). As a filmmaker, Syms directed She Mad: Bitch Zone (2020) and The African Desperate (2022). She is the author of several books including Implications and Distinctions: Format, Content, and Context in Contemporary Race Film (2011), Neural Swamp (2022), and She Mad (2024). Syms lives in Los Angeles.