Holly Harris

Holly Harris (b. 1997) is an oil painter and printmaker from North Carolina currently based in Washington, D.C. Representational oil paintings comprise the primary focus of her practice, painting figurative and narrative works based on her life. She addresses the tensions of relationship: how we relate to self, to the divine, and to one another in a complex and increasingly violent world. To that context, her paintings offer a vision of a gentler, alternative world fostered by care. Centering depictions of the women she lives with in her D.C. row home, she invites the viewer to consider how safety, stability, and mutual caretaking exist outside the structure of the heterosexual familial unit. Stylistically, she plays with light and reflection, capturing sharp contrasts and creating the sensation of a fleeting, time-bound moment. 

She received a BA in Studio Art from the University of North Carolina in 2019, where she concentrated on painting and printmaking. Having built her art career in D.C., she’s shown in group exhibitions with institutions like Touchstone Gallery, Washington Project for the Arts, Usan Usan, Washington Studio School, and the DC Arts Center. Her fine art prints, primarily linocut reliefs, have been included in flat files by Latela Curatorial and Transformer Gallery. Committed to fostering local contemporary art, she helped produce the show AT HOME at Grandma’s House, a home-turned-gallery project executed with seven contemporaries in 2024. Volunteering her time to Creative Mornings DC, Pyramid Atlantic, and Studio Kusi has allowed her to support peer artists building their practices in D.C., exemplifying her community-driven approach to her work. Her painting “Irla’s Soup Night” was acquired in the 2026 DC Art Bank Collection by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and was included in the accompanying exhibition, “DC Art Now 2025.” She is a finalist for acquisition in the 2027 DC Art Bank.