Donté K. Hayes

Donté K. Hayes’s research has been focused on the pineapple as a symbol that represents welcoming and hospitality. This investigation in the rituals and the action of being welcomed or hospitable to others is from my own experiences. He has encountered many struggles in negotiating public spaces as a black man and person of color. Through this inquiry, the tradition of the pineapple as a symbol for hospitality is rooted in slavery and agricultural colonization of South America, the Caribbean, and the Southern United States, in particular, South Carolina, and his home state of Georgia. When ships bringing enslaved Africans docked at wharves, the foremen placed a pineapple on a spike. The pineapple now, becoming the beacon to identify a new shipment of enslaved Africans has arrived. Thus originates the pineapple as a symbol for welcoming. From this research Hayes’s art practice pulls from his interest in hip-hop culture, history, and science fiction. The artwork suggests the past, discusses the present and explores possible futures interconnected to the African Diaspora. While also examining deeper social issues which broaden the conversation between all of humanity.

Donté K. Hayes graduated summa cum laude from Kennesaw State University at Kennesaw, Georgia with a BFA in Ceramics and Printmaking with an Art History minor. Hayes received his MA and MFA with honors from the University of Iowa and is the 2017 recipient of the University of Iowa Arts Fellowship. Recent art exhibitions include group shows at the Museum of Science + Industry in Chicago, Illinois, the Trout Museum of Art in Appleton, Wisconsin, and the 2021 Atlanta Biennial at the Atlanta Contemporary in Georgia. Donté’s artwork has been presented at the 1-54 art fair in London, England, Design Miami in Florida, and the 2021 Armory art fair in NYC. His work is in the permanent collections at the Renwick Gallery at The Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C., The Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina, and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Texas among many others. Hayes is a 2019 Ceramics Monthly Magazine Emerging Artist and Artaxis Fellow. Donté is the 2019 winner of the 1858 Prize for Contemporary Southern Art from the Gibbes Museum of Art. Donté K. Hayes is represented by Mindy Solomon Gallery in Miami, Florida.