Ciarra Ross is a writer, multidisciplinary artist, and founder of Querent Studio, based in New York City, operating globally.
As Principal, Ciarra integrates over a decade of experience in cultural organizing and communications. Before forming Querent, Ciarra developed and redesigned the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Projects and Programs (NCAVP) In Memoriam Archive, which tracks and shares fatal LGTBQ hate violence data in the United States. From 2019 to 2021, the NCAVP In Memoriam made national headlines calling for justice, humane storytelling, and Black trans liberation. Querent Studio is formed as an extension of the collective questions that arose, and continue to arise, from that time:
How do we honor the responsibility to tell, keep, and witness our stories under fascism? How do we move vulnerable narratives beyond the harmful exploits of public visibility? What are the tools that we need? Who is ready to use and invent them? With sharp strategy and hearts forward, these questions form our calling and creative opportunity.
Ciarra has lectured at Columbia University, Spelman College, and the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. She completed studies at the University of Michigan, International Center of Photography, and The World Peace Initiative in Thailand.
