Sally Boon Matthews is a British-born visual artist and educator based in New York City. She received her foundational training in the UK, earning an Art Foundation Degree and a Diploma in Art and Design with Honours from The Arts University Bournemouth (formerly Bournemouth and Poole College of Art). Her graduate studies expanded into the fields of history and philosophy at Boston University and Columbia University’s Teachers College.
Matthews’ work has been exhibited and published internationally, and her visual and written contributions have appeared in Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, The New York Times, British Journal of Photography, Penguin Books, and Random House, among others. Exhibition venues include the Cica Museum (South Korea), Santa Barbara Museum of Art, USGalerie Solado (Venezuela), Château de Trousse-Barrière (France), Battersea Museum of Art (UK), and the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning (NY).
Her practice has evolved over the past decade into a multidisciplinary inquiry that includes hand-stitching, drawing, painting, bookmaking, and video. Through these diverse media, Matthews explores themes of material memory, inner life, and poetic narrative, often working at the intersection of text and image, embodiment and reflection.
@sallyboonmatthews
Recent and upcoming exhibitions, residencies, projects, and grants include:
2026 Visual Art Residency Arts Itoya, Takeo, Japan
2025 Two-person exhibition. In Between Opposites with Jennifer Formica. York College Gallery, York College, Queens, NY
Group exhibition, York College Gallery, York College, Queens, NY
2024 Visual Artist Residency Studio Kura, Itoshima, Japan
Adelphi University Professional Development Grant
SIAP Arts Council of Northern Ireland. Visual Artist Grant with choreographer Tina McCauley
What's it All About? Live performance with Video Installation, Derry Art Night, September 2024
Experimental Loop: International Video Art Festival, Governors Island, NYC
2023 Visual Artist Embroidery Residency Córtex Frontal, Arraiolos, Portugal
Group Exhibition CICA Museum, Gimpo, South Korea. Experimental Video Group Exhibition,
https://cicamuseum.com/the-value-2023/
2022 Group Exhibition Portraits in Scent. Olfactory Keller Gallery NYC, NY
hthttps://www.olfactoryartkeller.com/exhibitions/portraits-in-scent
Group Exhibition Flat File Gallery Online. Lines.
Group Exhibition Re: Discoveries, Nars Foundation, Brooklyn, NY
Group Exhibition. Perspectives 2022 CICA Museum Gimpo, South Korea
https://cicamuseum.com/perspectives-2022/
2021 Group Exhibition: Brooklyn/Seoul. Video Collaboration with Geuryung Lee. BWAC Gallery, Brooklyn, USA
Group Exhibition: Welcome Back, Maggie Peyton Gallery, NY, NY, USA
Group Exhibition: Incubator Gallery, Brooklyn, USA
Book: Art and Spirituality by Cosmina Ene
https://www.thenewyorkoptimist.net/the-seeds-of-creation---art-and-spirituality.html
2020 Interview: Artists in the Pandemic. Artspiel.org
Group Exhibition: Line, Flat File Gallery 8x8 Online
Book: The Seeds of Creation by Cosmina Ene
2019 Threading the Heart Sutra: a Contemplative Arts project with NY Insight Meditation Centre, NYC, USA
2017, 2018, and 2019 Visual Artist Residency, Vermont Studio Center, Vermont, USA..
2018 Jewish Center for History, NYC, USA Image of Sound audio-visual project. Collaboration with composer Inessa Zaretsky, Live concert performance by Tesla Quartet.
2017 Greenville Fine Arts Center, NC, USA Image of Sound audio-visual project. Collaboration with composer Inessa Zaretsky, Live concert performance by Tesla Quartet.
https://www.cmscarolina.com/images-and-sound
Warren Wilson College, NC, USA Image of Sound audio-visual project. Collaboration with composer Inessa Zaretsky, Live concert performance by Tesla Quartet.
Kitteridge Community Arts Center, NC, USA Image of Sound audio-visual project. Collaboration with composer Inessa Zaretsky, Live concert performance by Tesla Quartet.
Swannanoa Music Festival Artist in Residence, NC, USA
PSC-NY Professional Development Grant,
2016 Invited photographer Governo do Estado de São Paulo, Brazil. Culture Program
ASL Merit Scholarship
2007-present Teaching faculty at CUNY and Adelphi University.